Welcome to the web site of the “Battle of the Maroons”, an exclusive website launched in 2010, the year in which this historic cricketing encounter was played for the 81^st time.

Nalanda having come into existence as an off shoot of Ananda in 1924, a "Big Match" was initiated between the two brotherly schools with the aim of building relations between students of the two institutions and developing their cricket in the sporting arena. Thus the first Battle of the Maroons was played between Ananda and Nalanda in 1924.

Soon the Big Match began to be played with much pride and fanfare and became the most awaited and cherished event for all those connected with both schools. A fine tradition was built over the decades while the cricketing abilities of both schools grew surpassing other cricket playing schools in the Island. The Battle of the Maroons gradually became a symbol of the brotherhood between Ananda and Nalanda that has been unique in a country where many schools try to outdo their counterparts.

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Sri Lanka Telecom announced their Gold sponsorship of the 83rd Battle of the Maroons at a press conference that the “Battle of the Maroons Joint Organising Committee” held at the Atrium Lounge – Cinnamon Grand Hotel on Wednesday 4th January.

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If you think you know a lot about cricket just because you can handle a bat with elegance or bowl some good yorkers or googlies that will put the opposing batsmen in a fix – you are certainly missing some very important things that this noble game can teach you.

The Joint Committee set up to organise the 'Battle of the Maroons 2012' – the traditional Big Match between Ananda and Nalanda which will take its 83rd step on 3rd and 4th March next year, organised what one could call a unique programme, hitherto not thought of by any other school in Sri Lanka on Monday 14th November at the Language Centre Hall at Nalanda College.

This was a Personality Development Programme for about 70 young cricketers in all, 35 from each school, that included the entire squads of both the first XI and second XI teams for a knowledge gathering exercise.

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The inaugural planning meeting for the 83rd battle of the maroons was held on 30th September. The joint committee for the next term will be, headed by Mr. Nishantha Ranatunga (Ananda) and Mr. Sidath Waidyasekara (Nalanda).

A ceremony was held at Nalanda College , language lab on 08th June 2011 to distribute the profit earned from the 82nd battle of the maroons to two schools Ananda and Nalanda.

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The 37^th limited overs match was concluded successfully on 13th at SSC.Ananda won the encounter.

| Award Ceremony |

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Last Saturday and Sunday ( 5th and 6th March) saw a galaxy of cricketing greats gathering at the SSC, not only those who were on the turf for the 82nd Battle of the Maroons, but those from all walks of life that were there to witness this fascinating cricket fiesta.

And a prelude to this great gathering took place on Wednesday - 2nd March - evening at the SSC pavilion when the Past Cricketers’ Association of Nalanda College (NPCA), felicitated their former coaches and masters in charge who in their prime days had been the mentors behind the great cricketers that Nalanda had produced.

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The 82^nd Battle of the Maroons was ended in a draw on 06th at SSC.

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It started in 1924 as a friendly game between two brothers, in a cricket match - and from the very next year it became an annual encounter which has now blossomed into a much sought after Big Match among the Sri Lankan cricketing public “the Battle of the Maroons”. This is the 82nd time these two leading educational institutions meet on a green surface to bring out the best in them . During this long history of 81 years hardly any one would remember any rivalry between them . Although they are called Traditional Rivals there is no rivalry shown other than when in the middle of the ground and battling it out to get the best of the cherry.

During this period many great men have played this match and hundreds of thousands of people have watched this encounter thus making it an event with lots of traditions and historical values. This much awaited match is played during the weekend on a Saturday and Sunday in the month of March , unless the Full Moon Poya falls on one of these days . Match dates are pre fixed and under no circumstances will these dates be changed . The 82nd Battle takes place on the 5th and 6th of march 2011, on which day the Sri lankan cricket team meets Australians in a hotly contested world cup league match . This is the month of Big Matches.

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Last Sunday I saw a significantly small article written at one of the leading Sunday national news paper in English on annual battle between Ananda and Nalanda. This is very common in last decades. But again we can observe more articles (especially in English) which went for pages written on other big matches played in Sri Lanka. But I think there is a symbolic importance in the big mach between Ananda Vs Nalanda than any other schools in Sri Lanka. Simply they are the only 2 schools produced more test cricketers to the nation! But traditionally cricket and English go inline and there was a myth that if you know English then only you can play cricket.

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Daltan Wakwella’s article on ‘How P.M Jayathilake scored 111 ’ dragged my memories to my schooldays in 1972 to Bandula Warnapura’s record braking knock of 118 (not out). As Dalten has mentioned by then many players have attempted to pass this magic score of 111(not out) by PM without much success, closest being Carl Obeysekara who got out for 111.

Bandula captained Nalanda in 1971 and had an illustrious career as a school boy cricketer being a member of the Sri Lankan School cricket team who toured India and later captaining the schools team in the successful series with the visiting Australian School cricket team. By the Big Match day in March 1972 every cricket enthusiast’s attention was drawn to Bandula who has already had a successful season with a number of centuries for Nalanda under the captaincy of Nandadeva Perera.

Those days as school boys the only page we used to read in the English news papers was the last page and on that Friday the Daily News ran it’s sports page head line as "Warnapura against might of Ananda". Ananda in that season had the most number of wins and were favourites to become the best School Cricket team of the year.

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The 10^th Cricket World cup is here and what better times for us Sri Lankans to reminisce the glory of our triumph in 1996 and savour the good things that this noble game of cricket teaches us.

While joining the millions of Sri Lankans who fervently hope that we would repeat the feat, a sincere wish that goes across my mind is - that our team will remind the world the true spirit in which this game should be played.

Amidst all the euphoria of the world cup that is taking centre stage, we in Sri Lanka will get a rare opportunity of witnessing another great cricketing encounter that has enlivened this spirit and continued in all its splendour year after year for over 8 decades – when Ananda takes on Nalanda in their 82nd Maroons encounter at the SSC on 5^th and 6^th of March.

Way back in the early 1920's a few class rooms for Ananda College were set up at the far end of their play ground to house their primary section. The founding father of Nalanda - Mr P de S Kularatne - had the intention of turning this unit into a separate educational entity and thus transferred a set of “bright sparks” to these new classes. A few years from then saw the birth of a new educational entity which was named Nalanda with Mr Gunapala Malalasekera as its first Principal.

Thus Nalanda sprung in to existence as a part of Ananda – like when a father builds another house for a younger brother in a family to stay in – Ananda and Nalanda are just two components of one family.

As two giants in the educational sphere in the country today, Ananda and Nalanda have produced a vast array of illustrious sons whom we can all be proud of as Sri Lankans and most importantly the brotherly spirit that continues to exist among the two schools is something that is unique in any part of the world.

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The 82^nd Battle of the maroons , the Maroon celebration of the year will be held on 05^th and 06^th March and the One day match will be held on 13^th of March at SSC. This will be an event for the whole family and the entertainment is provided for the whole age groups. The joint committee has taken steps to show the Sri lanka –Australia day night match on giant screens where all of us can enjoy the world cup match under the stars.

Last year the joint committee IT team successfully used RF ID technology for selected tents (Brothers and Family). This year this innovative technology will be used for all the tents, where RF ID card will be issued instead of standard tear off tickets. The SSC will be covered with a wireless network and the spectator in/out times will be collected real-time. This helps the organizing committee to stream-line the ticketing process and get the live ticketing statistics.

Following Tents will be available for you to be selected
Brothers
Gold
Silver
Ananda Maroons
Family 01 for Primary school Parents
Family 02 for Upper school Parents

Unlike last time , the each tent will have separate entrances and exits, and the tents will be provided the maximum entertainment. The “Brothers” Ticket holders will have the privilege of moving around any of the above tents at anytime.

A simple ceremony was held at Ananda College , Centenary hall on 02nd December 2010 to distribute the profit earned from the 81st battle of the maroons to two schools Ananda and Nalanda.

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The 36^th limited overs match was concluded successfully on 14th at SSC. Ananda won the match with total of 207 runs while Nalanda was all out for 169.

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The 81^st Battle of the Maroons was concluded successfully on 07th at SSC.

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The 81^st Battle of the Maroons will create the history in Sri Lankan sports, by introducing RF ID (Radio Frequency Identification Device), Technology to track the Spectators.

The Spectators would be given an RF ID card as opposed to the conventional tear off tickets. The cards are to be brought closer to the Proximity Reader as and when the spectators in-Gated and out-Gated. The Gates are equipped with the Readers and there will be a Display, to monitor spectator In and Out movements.

This would streamline the ticketing process as opposed to a third person checking the tickets manually as in conventional process.

The System was fully designed and implemented by the Battle of the Maroons Joint Committee IT team.

The traditional cricket encounter between the two leading Buddhist institutions Ananda and Nalanda will be played this weekend. This is the 81st occasion they battle it out for cricketing supremacy.
Over the years these two schools have developed a unique tradition in this series while the game of cricket is played according to the highest standards in the world. This was quite evident when the Sri Lankan Cricket team won the spirit of cricket award twice under the proud captaincy of Mahela Jayawardena who learned the basics of the game, its finer points and values in his younger days at Nalanda. Cricketers produced by these two schools have always been maintaining high standards at any level of the game.

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An article written by Varuna Ratnaweera

The 81^st Battle of the Maroons Press Conference and the Web Launch was held at SSC on 25th, with the participation of principal sponsors, Sri lanka Telecom and Sri Lanka Telecom/Mobitel.

Mrs. Leisha De Silva Chandrasena the Chairperson of Sri lanka Telecom, Mr. Suren J Amarasekara, CEO/Sri Lanka Telecom/Mobitel and Mrs. Vijitha Ratnayake, Deputy Chief Corporate Officer, Sri Lanka Telecom participated together with the Big match Joint committee Chairmen Mr.Upali Dharmadasa, Mr.Ravi Ahangama, Ananda College Principal Mr L.M.D.Dharmasena , Nalanda College Deputy Principal Sarath Gunathilake and the two captains Matheesha Perera and Dinuk Jayasinghe.

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The first Ticket for the 81^stBattle of the Maroons was sold to Big Match Joint Committee Co-Chairman Mr. Upali Dharmadasa. This was done at the Nalanda college, Language center at an auspicious time on 18^th of February. Representatives from both schools, including members of the Joint Organising committee, Principals, Prefects and other well wishers were present on this occasion.

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An interesting article written by Dalton Wakwella