P.De S. Kularathne the symbolic tower of education in modern Lanka says “ for the Buddhists of Ceylon there can be no school cricket match more interesting than the Ananda-Nalanda match.”

If its cricket in paradise isle the schools Ananda and Nanalana become synonyms. The two premier Budhdhist educational institutions which began under the watchful eyes of one of the most progressive Budhdhist philanthropist to set foot in this country Henry Steel Olcott and the great educationalist P.De S. Kularathn e have a history of their own. A tradition that really is hard to match and a plethora of products that bears testimony to the rounded education these two institutions provide.

Dr N.M Perera one of the most distinguished products of Ananda and former captain of the 1925 team writes in the souvenir f 1934 about the first encounter “. If in a minor key, all the paraphernalia of a Royal-Thomian match were there, the gaily, if sometimes extravagantly decorated tents; the music and the refreshments; the funny placards and the struggling, shouting "rounds"; the cheering and the counter-cheering; and the booing and the bellowing.”

Cricket in its earliest of stages in old time Ceylon was construed as a game of the elite and if you go down history and take a look at the names that had the honour of donning the Lankan crest on that majestic blazer it wont take Einstein to figure out that cricket in this country was indeed confined to a few who had the means. Royal and S.Thomas’ two of the countries premier educational institutions started as missionary schools by the British held sway in the playing eleven until of course the Maroons walked in. Today the proportions have changed so much so that today the country’s playing eleven constitutes mainly of players who have represented the Maroons in their day as school boys.

So far, Ananda and Nalanda have the honor of producing 25 cricketers to the national teams.

Among the cricketers produced by Ananda are Arjuna Ranatunga, Anuruddha Polonnowita, Bonnie Wijesinghe, Sarath Wijesinghe, Sonny Yatawara, Sidath Wettimuni, Marvan Atapattu, Aviska Gunawardena,Thilan Samaraweera and Thjilina Kandambi. Dinesh Chandimal the most outstanding schoolboy cricketer for the year 2009 and former captain and wicket keeper of the Ananda team is also set to cement his place as one of the youngest to don the national cap.

Nalanda among the many others to don the national jersey have produced the likes of Bandula Warnapura, Anura Ranasinghe,Jayantha Seneivrathne, Lalith Kaluperuma,Kumar Dharmasena ,Roshan Mahanama ,Asanka Gurusinghe,Gamini Wicrkramasinghe and Mahela Jayewardena.

The inaugural “biggie” was played in K.A.P. Rajakaruna, (later Barrister-in-law) as captain of Ananda College and B.S.Perera as captain of Nalanda College. B.S. Perera later played for All Ceylon. But The first encounter between Ananda and Nalanda played at Campbell Place the playground of Nalanda was practically washed of by heavy rain.

In 1925 Dr. N.M.Perera and B.S. Perera did captain Ananda and Nalanda respectively and Ananda was defeated in the same year in the Big Match against Nalanda.

Of the encounters played so far Ananda lead with 14 wins against the six by Nalanda. Ananda’s last win was in 2003 under Daminda Kularatne while Nalanda’s last win came way back in 1953 under the leadership of W.W. Silva. There however is a glitch in the proud history of this encounter which was not played Due to the 2nd world war in 1942- 1943, 1944 and 1945. The year 1948 when this country gained independence has also been a year of non even for a reason best known to the historians.

The Anandians however seem to have dominated the event through out going on a binge of victories By winning the Big Match in the years 193\7, 1938, 1939, 1940 and 1941 consecutively. Ananda established a record that any other cricketing school is yet to break The captains who lead the Ananda team to victory as V.R. Perera, M. Sirimanne, J .D. Sugathadasa, G.W. Perera and M.A. Jayasinghe. During the course of history Nalanda College recorded victories for the years 1949 and 1950.

The victorious teams were lead by M.A.L. Perera ( 1949), A.W. Dharamadasa(1950).

Speaking to the Colombo Spirit the captain of the Nalanda team Dinuk Jayasighe sounded a confident bloke. He told us “the side is well balanced. I think we have the edge because we have an experienced team.We have won 4 out of our eleven matches this season and that has given the boys that extra stretch of confidence too”

I probed him further on his pick of the players “ Nipun our former captain has been doing really well with both the ball and bat. He has scored over 600 runs and got more than 30 wickets. His contribution is vital for us to get ahead.

We have Adheesha Nanayakkara who represented the Junior National team and he also has proven his worth scoring over 600 runs in the few matches he played. These two will be my pick but then again this is a team game and the best day would be when the eleven of us click on that crucial day” The Nalandians have managed four outright wins this season. The most recent casualty was Thurstan College Colombo.Isipathana, Lumbini and Joseph Vaz have all had a taste of the Nalanda dish and the Sebastianites will have to do well to digest the venom when they meet tomorrow.

Speaking to the Colombo Spirit Matheesha Perera last years star and current Captain Of the Anandians was of the opinion that “They are in this to win it”. The Anandians have only played 10 matches so far and have a packed schedule before the big one having eight more matches to play. “The batsmen are gelling well. The spirit within the team is very good. We took time to really get the team going but after the fourth match onwards we picked momentum” He went on to add that “ Sachin Deawage has scored over 600 runs and looks in good form so does Madumal Jayarathne and Udesh Nadiranga who have scored over 400 runs each. In the bowling department Sachithra Perera has taken over forty wickets supported by allrounder Ruwinda Shamin”

Any of you who followed the schools season last year would be aware that Matheesha Perera is a record breaking bowler who had under his belt over 120 victims. A feat that has been achieved by only a handful in this countries cricketing history. Matheesha together with his captain Dinesh Chandmal proved to be a deadly combination guiding Ananda to a record breaking 12 wins last season. Their only defeat was at the hands of Royal that too a nail biting contest which could have gone either way. Matheesha went on to state that “there are only two places left and there is a big competition for these two places. But then again this is cricket we are talking about so none of the players are taking anything easy and they are giving everything they’ve got to make this year a memorable one”

The Colombo Spirit will next bring to you one on one interviews with the captains of these two schools in the next segment.