History at a Glance
The inaugural cricket encounter between Ananda and Nalanda was held in 1924 and the Captains of
Ananda and Nalanda were respectively A.P. Rajakaruna and B.S. Perera.
See: The first ever group photo of the two teams in 1926
Due to the 2nd world war in 1942- 1943, 1944 and 1945 the Big Match was put to a halt. This mega encounter was not held in 1948, the year in which Sri Lanka gained her independence.
Because of these incidents some captains of both schools were deprived of the honor of leading their teams for the Big Match. Their names are as follows.
| Year | Ananda | Nalanda |
|---|---|---|
| 1942 | P.J. Ranathunaga | G.W.G. Senevirathne |
| 1943 | B.R. Fernando | G.W.G. Senevirathne |
| 1944 | G.Cumaratunga | G.W.G. Senevirathne |
| 1945 | A. Senevirathne | A.N. Piyadasa |
| 1948 | B. Wickramasinghe | S.D. Dayapala |
Victories
Throughout the long history of the battle of the Maroons lasting 80 years, Ananda has won the Match on 12 occasions while Nalanda made victories on 6.
The Last victory
The last victory was recorded by Ananda at the Big Match in 2003 and Nalanda the last victory in 1953 the winning team were lead by Duminda Kularathne and S. Gangodawila respectively.
Continuous
By winning the Big Match in the years 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940 and 1941 consecutively Ananda established a golden record in the history of the encounter. The captains who lead the Ananda team to victory as V.R. Perera, M. Sirimanne, J .D. Sugathadasa, G.W. Perera and M.A. Jayasinghe. During the course of history Nalanda College recorded victories for the years 1949 and 1950. The victorious teams were lead by M.A.L. Perera ( 1949), A.W. Dharamadasa(1950)
Maroons who lead Sri Lanka to test cricket victory.
Arjuna Ranathunga. (Ananda)
Marvan Atapattu. (Ananda)
Bandula Warnapura. (Nalanda)
Mahela Jayawardene. (Nalanda)
It's with great pride we remind that Bandula became Sri Lanka's first test captain. And Arjuna
Ranathunga lead the Sri Lankan cricket team towards the victory at the 1996 cricket World Cup.
Golden memories of Sri Lanka test cricket
The first half century, first century and the first double century for Sri Lanka were scored by three Anandians who shall forever be remembered, They are Arjuna Ranathunga (1982), Sidath Weththamuni (1982) and Brendan Kuruppu 201 *.
Those who represented Sri Lanka in Cricket
| Ananda | Nalanda |
|---|---|
| D. Weerasinghe | B.S. Perera |
| Sonny Yatawara | Stanly Jayasinghe |
| Anurudha Polonowita | Carl Obeysekara |
| Sarath Wimalaratne | Ashly De Silva |
| Sunil Wettimuny | Bandula Warnapura |
| Sidath Wettimuny | Lalith Kaluperuma |
| Ajith De Silva | Jayantha Senaviratne |
| Arjuna Ranatunga | Anura Ranainghe |
| Brendon Kuruppu | Sunil Jayasinghe |
| Marvan Attapattu | Susantha Karunaratne |
| Sanjeewa Ranatunga | Hemantha Devappriya |
| Thilan Samaraweera | Yohan Gunasekara |
| Tilan Wijesinghe | Roshan Gunaratne |
| Oshadi Weerasinghe | Sanath Kaluperuma |
| Dinuk Hettiarachchi | Asanga Gurusinghe |
| Hemantha Wickramaratne | Roshan Mahanama |
| Chandika Haturusinghe | Keerthi Ranasinghe |
| Avishka Gunawardena | Mahela Jayawardena |
| Thilina Kandamby | Kumar Dharmasena |
| Akalanka Ganegama | Shantha Kalavitagoda |
| Muthumudalige Pushpakumara | Gamini Wickramasinghe |
| Nishantha Ranatunga | Sudharman De Silva |
| Mahela Udawatta | Ishara Amarasinghe |
| Mithra Wettamuni | Chamara Dunusinghe |
| Dhammika Ranathunga | Shammi Silva |
| Charith Senanayake | Sunil Jayasinghe |
| Dulip Samaraweera |