Annites long for victory in 'Battle of the Rocks'

By Francis Warnakulasooriya - Pothuhera Special corr.

CRICKET: The 28th annual cricket encounter between Maliyadeva College and St. Anne's College, popularly known as the "Battle of the Rocks" will be played on March 9 and 10 at the Welagedera Stadium, Kurunegala with play scheduled to start at 9 a.m. each day.

Then the 15th limited-overs match between these two schools for the Janaka Bogollagama challenge Trophy, will be played on March 10 at 10 a.m. at the same venue.

The history of the series show that Maliyadeva has won twice while the Annites have yet to register a win in the series. In the one-day series, Maliyadeva has won seven times while the Annites have recorded six victories.

The Annites are celebrating the 140th anniversary of its existence this year and Maliyadeva are making arrangements to celebrate their 120th anniversary next year. The old boys associations of the two schools, along with the principals have already made arrangements to celebrate the two milestones on a grand scale. Besides the cricket match, there will be a colourful motor car parade to be held on March 7 in Kurunegala town.

Maliyadeva has played 11 matches so far this season and they have recorded one outright win against Raddoluwa Vidyalaya and three first innings wins. They lost three games and the rest of the matches have been drawn. Duminda Dassanayake, a fourth year player, leads Maliyadeva side. Last year, he toured Malaysia representing the under 17 national side.

Annites 3 wins

St. Anne's have played 13 matches this season and they have recorded three outright wins and four first innings wins and lost two matches.

A really experienced player - Prabath Aravinda, now in his sixth year leads St. Anne's this year. A right-hand batsman, Prabath has scored 300 runs this season with his top score being 77 against Vidyartha.