103rd Battle of the Blues – Central Hills

St. Anthony's outfit

Trinity outfit

By Shamseer Jaleel in Kandy

Trinity Captain Akram Muthalib

Antonian skipper Chamidu Wickremasinghe

St. Anthony's Head Coach Suneth Gunathilake

Trinity Head Coach Naveen Ekanayake

Trinity College will host St. Anthony’s College in their 103rd Battle of the Blues at the Asgiriya Stadium on 3 and 4 June. This encounter will be played after a lapse of two years due to COVID pandemic. This encounter be played for John Halangoda Trophy will see Trinity College celebrating 150 years.

Trinity is led by Akram Muthalib who is a fantastic leader and the stumper of the outfit. He has been outstanding so far. Trinity beat D.S. Senanayake and Ananda outright and won on first innings against Mahanama, Prince of Wales, St. Joseph’s, Nalanda, Wesley, St. Sebastian’s, Royal and lost to St. Peter’s.

Akram scored over 600 runs with a best of a 162 against Prince of Wales, he been consistent in his batting plus top-class wicket keeper among the cricket playing schools this season. Pawan Pathiraja (511) and Vibawith Ehelapola (422) are their other two leading batters. Pahitraja stroked a beautiful century (133) against Royal in their last game. 

Ranuda Somaratne (377) was too among the runs after missing out some matches due to the National Super League four-day encounters and ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in West Indies. He too scored a brilliant ton against Royal putting on 200-plus partnership grounding the Royal outfit.

Theeraka Ranatunuga who had a magnificent season so far claiming 48 wickets with a best of 6 for 58 against the tough Nalanda outfit. Against Joes he took 8 wickets and also showed promising all-round effort with a brisk unbeaten 44. 

Already he had scored more than 240 runs and showing his quality as a good promising all-rounder and a very good leader. He is the highest wicket taker so far in the Inter School season. Manula Kularatne (26) and Dinuka Thennakoon (35) are the other two leading bowlers for the Trinitians. 

Trinity will miss out on Matheesha Pathirana who was selected for the T20 series against the visiting Australians. This a major blow for the Trinitians where he played a major part in the Under 19 World Cup in West Indies plus being the only school boy to be in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

Antonians are led by Chamidu Wickemasinghe who won two of their traditional matches against Kingswood and St. Servatius while they won on first innings against Isipathana, Thurstan, Ananda and St. Benedict’s. In the tournament one day matches Antonians beat Mount Lavinia Matara Thomians, St. Benedict’s, St. Joseph’s, St. Sebastian’s and lost to Richmond. 

Asitha Wanninanayake leads the Antonians individual scores with 728 while Chamidu Wickremasinghe (520) and Chandimal Herath (380) are the other two batters. Another upcoming youngster Mohamed Aaqil too scored over 410 runs stroking a brilliant 70 against the Aanada outfit in their last game. 

Three of their players represented the national youth outfit. They are Chamidu Wickremasinghe, Traveen Mathews and Lahiru Abeysinghe. Asitha Wanninayake a consistent performer was overlooked by the national selectors which was a huge miss on their part.

Antonians last win came three decades ago under Umesh de Alwis way back in 1992 while Trinitians scored their last win under national player Niroshan Dickwella in 2012. The series is led by Trinity with 23 wins to Antonians 12 with 67 ending in no decisions.

St. Anthony’s: Chamidu Wickremasinghe (Captain), Lahiru Abeysinghe, Bimsara Jayasekera, Yasiru Gamarachchi, Divyesh Ramaiya, Kaveesha Piyumal, Moahmed Aaqil, Induwara Galapitage, Chandimal Herath, Vharuke Ekanayake, Chamidu Wickremasinghe, Kanawha Rajapaksa, Kavindu Shehan, Traveen Mathew, Asitha Wanninayake, Thisara Ekanayake, Rayan Anthony and Jayoda Amarasena. Head Coach Suneth Gunathilake.

Trinity: Akram Muthalib (Captain), Vibawith Ehelapola, Rahal Amarasinghe, Matheesha Pathirana, Manula Kularatne, Theeraka Ranathunga, Dinuka Thennakoon, Ranuda Somaratne, Pawan Pathiraja, Kusal Wijethunga, Supun Waduge, Tharana Wimaladharma, Viduka Dammage, Dinusha Pieris and Janith Warunakula, Head Coach Naveen Ekanayake.