The 92nd battle of the Maroons between Ananda College & Nalanda College was worked off on the 10th & 11th of July at the Sinhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground. The encounter produced an amazing result for the first time after 20 years for Nalanda College, as they walked out victorious by 9 wickets.
Ananda College Skipper Nethma Karunaratne, who won the toss, elected to bowl first hoping to take some early wickets in the first hour. However, the Nalanda College openers Rusiru Vilochana and Yasiru Abeykoon put together a solid stand to deny the expected good start for Ananda College. Unfortunately for Nalanda, the introduction of left-arm spinner Shakthi Udara derailed the early progress of Nalanda as they were restricted to 148 for 6 at one point. To combat this, the Nalanda number 6 Chanul Athukorala played a solid counter-attacking knock to score 88 off 89 deliveries which included 10 fours and 3 sixes. He also managed to stitch 2 very important partnerships for the 7th and 8th wickets with Eranga Jayakody(23) and skipper Dineth Samaraweera(33). Along with these names, former Sri Lankan U19 Vice Captain Raveen de Silva scored a quick fire 40. Thanks to these contributions, Nalanda got to 289 for the loss of 9 wickets, while Shakthi Udara took a well deserved fifer for Ananda College.
Ananda College, in reply to Nalanda’s 289, had a horrid start to their 1st innings as they lost 5 wickets for 35 runs. However, Iruth Gimshan, who stabilized the innings a bit for Ananda, managed to take them towards the end of the day with a scoreline of 69 for 5. Vinuja Ranpul was the chief destroyer of Ananda as he took 3 quick wickets with the new ball in hand.
Ananda began day 2 trailing by 220 runs, qnd they did not have a great start as they lost 2 wickets in the space of just 5 runs. However, Shakthi Udara, who joined with Iruth Gimshan, managed to construct a stand of 44 for the 8th wicket. After Shakti’s dismissal, the others were unable to contribute much for Ananda as they were bundled out for 139. Iruth Gimshan, who played a quality knock under pressure, was unbeaten on 70 off 106 deliveries when the final wicket fell. For Nalanda, Vinuja Ranpul – another Sri Lanka U19 player – took 4 wickets, while Raveen de Silva took 3 wickets.
Nalanda College, with a healthy lead of 150, enforced the follow on, and compared to the first innings Ananda had a better chance as they were on 78 for 2 at one point, with 2 settled batters in the middle. However the whole complexion of the match changed completely in favor of Nalanda College when Mineth Premaratne hit a full toss straight towards a fielder. The downfall began for Ananda with that dismissal as they lost 8 wickets even before taking the lead.
For the final 2 wickets, Ananda added 31, and a target of 31 was set for Nalanda College to clinch the P de S Kularatne Trophy in the final hour of Day 2. Hansaja Jayasinghe top-scored for Ananda with a fighting 48 and Vinuja Ranpul took 2 wickets along with Raveen de Silva for Nalanda College.
Nalanda College cruised to victory by chasing down the target of 31 in just 5.1 overs to win the Battle of the Maroons after 69 years. Raveen de Silva, playing his final encounter for the school, fittingly hit the final boundary to take them over the line as the Nalanda College players, prefects, teachers and parents stormed to the field.
Nushal Premaratne of Ananda College was adjudged the Best Fielder of the match as took 3 catches, while Vinuja Ranpul of Nalanda College who took 6 wickets in the match, won the Best Bowler trophy. Chanul Athukorala of Nalanda, who scored a brilliant 88, won the Best Batsman award. Raveen de Silva, the star all-rounder for Nalanda, deservingly won the Player of the Match Award for scoring 55 runs in the match and taking 5 wickets.
