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93rd
‘Battle of the Blues’ at Katugastota
Trinity
should overcome Anthonian superiority
By
Hafiz Marikar
It is going to be cricket lovely cricket at
the Katugastota turf on Friday and Saturday when St.
Anthony’s host Trinity in their 93rd annual cricket
encounter which is the biggest and most looked forward
to cricketing event of the year of the two schools.
Last year this battle petered out into a tame draw.
The encounter this year however promises to be a thrilling
one as both teams are equally balanced and strong in
batting and bowling.
Out of the 92 games played so far Trinity heads the
series with 22 wins to St. Anthony’s 13 with 57
drawn. A win for Trinity is long overdue, their last
win coming at the same venue in 1986. That too was after
a long spell of 35 years under the leadership of TP
Weerasuriya. The Anthonian’s last win was in 1992
under Umesh de Alwis. In the year 1956 and 1957 matches
were not played due to an age limit problem cropping
up.
Leading Trinity this year is dashing all-rounder Rushan
Jaleel who has over 115 wickets and 500 runs to his
credit. He is a fine all-rounder and his good leadership
quality is sure to win him the ‘Lion’ at the
end of the term. Rushan has led Trinity to six wins
this season out of 16 games with three losses and the
remaining matches ending in draws.
Rushan hails from a famous cricketing family with his
grandfather ZM Huzair being one of the early cricket
captains of Vidyartha and his brothers ZM Anwer and
ZM Zarook too playing for Vidyartha with distinction.
According to his father M. Jaleel, cricket has been
in Rushan’s blood and he said he was proud of his
son’s achievements.
Leg-spinner Akila Jayasundra is the son of another famous
sportsman Anura Jayasundara. He has taken 98 wickets
and scored 350 runs. Injury forced him to miss two matches
and he is two wickets shy of completing hundred wickets
for the season which he is certain to get during the
‘Big Match’.
Mohamed Sajid is a technically correct bat who is blessed
with a good wrist and has scored over 600 runs. Their
star bat is Dilan Gangoda, a fine stroke maker who has
scored four hundreds and accumulated 1030 runs. He can
be rated as one of the finest schoolboy batsmen of the
season from the hills. There is also Suresh Wickrema
a good bat, Kithmal Wimalaweera who has scored 580 runs
and Sameera Wijesuriya with 560 runs.
The two Trinity bowlers who should worry the Anthonian
batting line-up are Jaleel and Akila Jayasundara. Trinity’s
fielding has let them down on more than one occasion
but they are all out to give Anthonians a good challenge,
weather permitting.
The Anthonians with six wins and one loss and the rest
draws are hoping to get the better of the Trinitians
on their home turf. Leading the side is Sahan Palihakkara,
an excellent stroke maker and a left-arm spinner. He
has taken over 35 wickets and scored 350 runs.
Antonians possess a fine all-round side with Palihakkara
in peak form along with Jerome Siegertsz, Adil Reyal,
Kasun Edirisinghe, Malindu Perera, Yohan Woods and Hiran
Wickramasekara who has four hundreds to his credit and
has passed the 1000-run mark. He can be rated as the
best bat of the side. Kanishka Ranaraja, Dulash Kumarasinghe,
Malindu Perera have also fared well in all the outings.
The Anthonian bowlers who should do well are Palihakkara,
Kasun Ekanayake and Riyal who has over 75 wickets.
The teams: Trinity College (from): Rushan Jaleel (captain),
Mohamed Sajid (vice-captain), Dilan Gangoda, Dinuk Weeraratne,
Suresh Wickrema, Akila Jayasundara, Kithmal Wimalaweera,
Niroshan Dickwella, Keliya Athugoda, Shameera Wijesuriya,
Kavinda Jayasuriya, Mohamed Sehan, Chinthaka Gokula,
Dushan Ranasinghe, Mahushan Basnayake, Yasiru Ratnayake,
Janishka Premasinghe. Coach – Sampath Perera.
St. Anthony’s College (from): Sahan Pallihakara
(captain), Jerome Siegertsz, Adil Riyal, Tharanga Bandara,
Hiran Wickremasekara, Dulash Kumarasinghe, Kasun Ekanayake,
Malindu Perera, Milinda Ranasinghe, Yohan Woods, Kanishka
Ranaraja, Manoj Sarathchandara, Viraj Senarath, Tharaka
Jaysinghe, L. Bandaranayake, Supun Ranaraja, Anura Bandara.
Coach - Champika Siriwardene.
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