The Battle of the Maroons is set to take centre stage for the 89th time as two premier boys schools in Sri Lanka, Ananda College and Nalanda College go head to head at Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) on the 3rd and 4th of March, in a bid for the Dr. N.M Perera Memorial Challenge Trophy.
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A joint committee will organised the match yet again as Dialog Axiata PLC has taken the initiative to power the 89th Battle of the Maroons, a series which began way back in 1924.
In 88 previous encounters, Ananda College have gone on to win the big match on 12 occasions while Nalanda have won it on half a dozen occasions. The trophy currently lies in the trophy cabinet at Ananda College as they won the game for the final time in 2003 under the leadership of D. Kularathna.
A victory is over due for Nalanda College as their last win was registered way back in 1953 under the leadership of W.W. Silva.
This year the defending champions, Ananda College will be led by experienced campaigner Asel Sigera. The 4th year colors-man has high praise for his team who have 3 outright wins and 6 first innings wins out of their 15 matches. Expressing his views live to ThePapare.com “We have been training for nearly 6 months and we are ready after a good season to keep the trophy with us”
Photo Album: Ananda College vs Nalanda College | 89th Battle of the Maroons – Press Conference
The leader of the opposition camp – Last year’s Man of the Match and Best Batsman – Lakshitha Rasanjana expressed his confidence in his team, having endured a fruitful season this time around. Speaking live with ThePapare.com “Last year we drew the game, but this time around we’ll be coming in with a tactical game plan and we hope to execute it to perfection and end our drought at the big match”
A breeding ground for great cricketers in the past, both schools have produced the highest number of players to represent Sri Lanka (more than 55) with the likes of Arjuna Ranathunga, Bandula Warnapura, Roshan Mahanama, Marvan Attapattu, Mahela Jayawardena and most recently Sri Lanka’s test captain Dinesh Chandimal.
Speaking at the media briefing, both school principles went on to thank Dialog Axiata and fellow sponsors for their investment in this prestigious event. The Limited-Over encounter between the two team, played for the P D S Kularatne Challenge Trophy, is scheduled to be played on the 18th of March at the same venue.
The game will be live on ThePapare.com and Dialog MyTV on both days (3rd and 4th of March) from 9.00am onwards.
Watch LIVE: Ananda College vs Nalanda College – 89th Battle of the Maroons
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