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Ananda College with a powerful batting line up with them are determined to maintain their unbeaten record when they take on the traditional rivals Nalanda College in the 79th annual Battle of the Maroons inter school cricket encounter which will be worked off on Saturday and Sunday at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place.

The Anandians have underlined their superiority on many occasions and their ability to pile up big scores has been the feature in the current inter school season. They of course had the opportunity of playing only eleven matches this year due to the restrictions imposed by the Ministry of Education and the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association.

As a result the Anandians ran out of time in completing the remaining seven fixtures which certainly deprived the team of making the ideal preparations for the more important Big Match. Even then they are quite pleased with the progress they have made in the last few outings and will go in with two outright victories under their belt.

They had the better of Piliyandala Central by seven wickets and also defeated Dharmapala MV by an innings. But they have had the satisfaction of been on top of the opposition in most of the fixtures and have missed out on recording a victory by just a couple of wickets.

In fact their match against Royal College is classic example where they fell short by two wickets from pulling off an outright victory at Rifle Green following two sporting declarations. Ananda College put up one of their better performances in this outing to bundle out their opponents for 158 runs and then reduced them to 117 for 8 in the second innings.

Ananda College also displayed a great amount of fighting spirit in the current season and their high profile clash against S. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia proved their true capabilities. The game turned out to be a test of skills and nerves for the Anandians because they were shot out for a mere 99 runs in the first innings.

But they ended up with a honourable draw at the end largely due to their strong batting where they rattled up a formidable 256 for 7 in the second innings. Left hander Udara Peiris hit a memorable century in this match and Matheesha Perera stroked an unbeaten half century to help Ananda share the honours.

In fact the Anandians have two other centurians in their ranks in the form of skipper Ranganath Wijetunga and Prabodha Seneviratne. The former hit a magnificent 114 not out against Maliyadeva College Kurunegala and the latter stroked a trail blazing 174 runs against Wesley College.

Wijetunga has piled up over 550 runs this season and also returned best figures of four wickets for 10 against St. Peter’s College. However Udara Peiris has emerged as one of their star player with over six hundred runs and 50 wickets to his credit.

The right arm off spinner was the matchwinner against Dharmapala MV Pannipitiya where he returned outstanding figures of eight wickets for 17.

The Anandians will also be depending on Sri Lanka youth cap Dinesh Chandimal who had a successful Under 19 World Cup worked off in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently.

The wicket keeper batsman of course had limited opportunities and had a top score of 82 not out against Richmond College Galle. Left hander Udara Jayasendera has collected over four hundred runs with a top score of 78 against D. S. Senanayake College.

Among the newcomers Sameera Wijesuriya has been outstanding and had a best effort of 90 runs against Wesley College. In addition fast bowler Rajeewa Balasuriya had a five wicket haul against Royal College and Ishara Wickremasinghe captured four wickets for 35 against Maliyadeva College Kurunegala.

Source - Daily News ( 2008/03/07)

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