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| Sunday, 26 February 2006 |
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Ananda better equipped than Nalanda in 77th encounter by Leslie Fernando The two skippers Chathura Herath of Ananda College and Gihan Rupasinghe of Nalanda College, were optimistic about the outcome of the 77th Battle of the Maroons cricket encounter to be played on March 4 and 5 at the SSC grounds, Maitland place. "My team is determined to produce two days of exciting cricket and the fans who make their way to the SSC grounds, are assured of good cricket" said Chathura Herath, the skipper of Ananda. Nalanda captain Gihan Rupasinghe had other ideas. He too, sounded was positive when he said that the Nalandians have a well-knit side capable of pulling off a win in the big game. The desire to win this year's encounter will be uppermost in the minds of the two teams, as the last win recorded in the series was in 2003 that was when Ananda under Damitha Kularatne's captaincy beat Nalanda. Nalanda's desire to win will be even greater as their last triumph was way back in 1953, that's 53 years ago when they were led by W. W. Silva. The tally in the series so far: Ananda 14 wins Nalanda 6 wins. 53 encounters have been drawn. Ananda is coached by Udayananda Perera, former Ananda, Police and SSC cricketer and Nalanda by U. S. I. Perera, a former St. Mathew's College cricket captain who also played for SSC and Nomads. Ananda are unbeaten this season and they have played 16 matches this season and registered three wins over Trinity, Dharmapala and Kalutara MMV, One 'drop' Chathura Herath, the skipper and wicketkeeper of the side, is probably the star player in the Ananda team. He has scored over 600 runs, including a century and four half centuries. As the 'Stumper' he accounted for 43 'victims', 36 catches, 7 stumpings. He was also in the under-19 World Cup squad. In addition, Amal Athulathmudali has performed well as an allrounder, scoring 710 runs with six half centuries and capturing 30 wickets as medium placeman. Vishva Wijesooriya has done well with the bat scoring over 700 runs and claiming 20 wickets with his spinners. He scored 102 against Trinity. The presence of these three players and the other three coloursmen Malitha Gunatilaka with 420 runs and 53 wickets as a left-arm spinner. He scored 93 against S. Thomas, and best bowling of 6 for 52 against St. Benedict's College, Gayan Rupasinghe medium-placeman with 45 wickets had a match bag of 8 for 33 against Dharmapala has scored over 450 runs, Ranganath Wijetunga left-handed opener with over 600 runs, century against Dharmasoka and 4 half centuries present an experienced outfit. Nalanda too have fared well this season playing 15 matches and winning two and drawing 130. They defeated Revata MV, Balapitiya and Ananda Sastralaya, Kotte. Nalanda will depend on their coloursmen-skipper Gihan Rupasinghe an aggressive right-hander with a century to his credit against St. Peter's and four half-centuries. He has also claimed 23 wickets. Rupasinghe is in the Sri Lanka Cricket Development Foundation Pool. Lahiru Wickremasinghe another centurion. He scored his century against St. Sebastians. He has scored over 600 runs. Tharindu Attanayake has scored two centuries against Revata MV and Richmond. He played only four matches due to World Cup commitments. Primosh Perera scored 508 runs including five half centuries. Left-arm spinner Amal Attapattu is the key bowler with a haul of 42 wickets, best being 6 for 29 against Wesley. Placeman Milinda Weerasinghe has taken 27 wickets. He claimed 5 for 8 against Ananda Sastralaya. Another impressive bowler is Lahiru Aponso with his spinners. He captured 26 wickets. He had the best figures of 5 for 10 against Dharmaraja College. The highest individual score is 149 not out in the series in 1997, by
Test Player Shantha Kalavitigoda of Nalanda. Nalanda's spinner Yohan
Gunasekera has the best bowling record in the series - 8 for 32 in 1976. |
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