Celebrating 100 years of friendly rivalry, the two schools in the hill capital, Trinity College and St. Anthony’s College will meet for the 100th occasion this year on the 10th and 11th of March 2017 for their annual big match.
The Trinity-Antonian Big Match tussle; commonly known as the Hill Country Battle of the Blues will be reaching its commemorative centenary encounter this year. The encounter that started in the year 1914 later became a regular fixture between the schools and has been played uninterruptedly except for three years. The hill-country battle is the 6th oldest concurrent cricket encounter in the country.
Speaking at the press conference held ahead of the centenary game, Principal of St. Anthony’s Rev. Fr. Henry Bernard Wijerathne added that this encounter goes beyond the cricket field to celebrate the relations the two schools have had over a hundred years.
“We are celebrating a hundred years of friendly relationship that we have been maintaining between the two schools”
Both principals of Trinity and St. Anthony’s expressed that the Trinity-Antonian has always been played in true spirit and the players have not been centered around the ‘win at all cost’ motive.
The 100th Big Match Encounter is expected to take place on the 10th and 11th of March 2017 at the Pallekelle International Cricket Stadium and will be the second occasion that the match will happen at a neutral venue.
Played for the John Halangoda trophy which was named in memory of John Halangoda, a great cricketer Trinity College produced and later coach of the first big-match winning team of St. Anthony’s in 1948.
Trinity College currently lead the win-loss tally with 23 outright wins as opposed to St. Anthony’s 11 wins. The last outright win came in 2012 under the captaincy of Niroshan Dickwella for Trinity College.
Commemorative Centenary coin to be launched
A commemorative gold coin will be launched ahead of the centenary match by the joint organizing committee and will be used for the coin toss at the 100th encounter.
Stay tuned to ThePapare as we will be bringing you live action from the 100th Hill Country Battle of the Blues on the 10th and 11th of March on www.thepapare.com and on Dialog Tv Channel 1.
