A school which was a major force in school cricket at one time was St Anthony’s College Kandy. The school had not only produced several champion teams but also produced some top class cricketers who have done the school, Kandy and Sri Lanka proud with their achievements on the cricket field.
Cricket was introduced to the school in 1903, and a team known as ‘St. Anthony’s College Cricket Club’ consisting of staff and school boys was formed under the captaincy of Fr. Andrew. The inaugural match was played in Colombo versus Colombo Carlton Cricket Club. One of St. Anthony’s notable rivals is another prestigious Catholic boys’ school St. Joseph’s College, Colombo and they compete now for the ‘Murali-Vaas Trophy’, which was inaugurated in 2007. In 2012 the two schools celebrated their historic 100th encounter. According to reports at that time they fielded a formidable side which included no less than seven senior players.
In the last few years they failed to keep up to those traditions and were demoted to Division Two a couple of years back. Two seasons back they had a good chance of getting promoted but the losses deprived them of promotion. After few years after they were promoted to Division I the top division in the first XI circuit and are in Group B with schools like S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia, St. Peter’s College, Colombo, Dharmapala College’ Pannipitiya, Moratu Maha Vidyalaya Moratuwa, Dharmaraja College Kandy, Dharmasoka College’ Ambalangoda and Prince of Wales College’ Moratuwa.
St Anthony’s is a school that has been a major force in school cricket. They have not only produced several champion teams but have also produced some of the finest cricketers who have done the country proud by their achievements. One is undoubtedly Jack Anderson who had the unique distinction of scoring five centuries in less than seven games in the 1918 season.
However the best out of them all was Muthiah Muralitharan the world’s highest wicket taker at international level, and who became the first Sri Lankan to be inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
The Antonians were to open the season with the game against Moratu Vidyalaya on 27 and 28 of September but this game was postponed due to wet weather. Last week they played Wesley College, at Katugastota and the game ended in a draw affected by rain.
On October 11-12 they will play S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia at Katugastota, 18-19 v St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa, 25-26 v Dharmapala College, Pannipitiya, November 8-9 v Ananda College, Colombo, 11-12 v Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda, December 30-31 v Prince of Wales, Moratuwa, January 3-4 v Royal College, Colombo, 10-11 v St. Anne’s College, Kurunegala, 17-18 v Dharmaraja College, Kandy, 24-25 v Kingswood College, Kandy, January 31- February 1 v St. Joseph’s College, Colombo, February 14-15 v St. Peter’s College, Colombo, 21-22 v St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena, March 6-7 big match against Trinity College, Kandy, 14 - One day encounter against Trinity College.
They are led by M.S.M. Kameel who is a stylish left hand batsman. His deputy is T.M.S.H. Tennakoon - a right hand batsman who is sure to come good with an array of strokes and bowls right-arm fast. Suneth Gunathilake will continue as coach.
The squad for the season is as follows - M.S.M. Kamil (captain), T.M.S.H. Tennakoon (vice captain), N.A. Jayatilake, W.M.R.L.M. Werrellagama, S.W.M.A.P.Wanninayaka, E.K.D.P.Edirisinghe, G.A. Ebert, L.H.T.C.L. Lamahewage, W.A.C.K. Wickramasinghe, Prabath Sachin, C. Herath, N. Udayakumara, T.P. Navarathna, J.M.D.R.J. Bandara, K.S. Bandara, D.P. Ramiya, D.S.B. Jayasekara, S.M.T.D. Siriwardene, J.D. Amarsesena, J.I. Delan, D.K.A. Barmmanayake, U.K. Sudesk, S.K. Rajapakse, A.M.L.J. Abeyasinghe, M.G.A.K. Bandara. MIC- Lenin Jayasinghe.
0 comments:
Post a Comment