Nalanda wins 11th Maroons Battle in the UAE | Daily News
Old Anandians take rugby honours:

Nalanda wins 11th Maroons Battle in the UAE

Old Nalandians Cricket Team – Winners of the P de S Kularatne Memorial Trophy
Old Nalandians Cricket Team – Winners of the P de S Kularatne Memorial Trophy

Old Nalandians continued their winning streak over Anandians, knocking the traditional rivals out of the 11th Battle of the Maroons in the UAE, and clinched both P de S Kularatne Memorial Trophy and Lionel Mendis Memorial Trophy.

The 11th Battle of the Maroons in the UAE was jointly organised by Ananda College Old Boys’ Association (ACOBA) UAE Wing and Nalanda College Alumni (NCA) UAE to embark on the traditional fellowship.It was held on 2nd November 2018 at the Eden Gardens Cricket grounds in Ajman.

Old Anandians batted first and posted a commanding total of 151 for the loss of 5 wickets in their allotted 20 overs with Ananda Captain all-rounder Achinda Witharamalage top scoring with a well calculated 54 runs in 29 balls. Achinda was well supported by Yasitha, who contributed 31 runs and put on a formidable partnership for the 5th wicket. For Nalanda, Ranga Kalyanaratne was the pick of the bowlers accounting for 2 wickets giving away 24 runs in his allotted 4 overs. Kavinda took 2 for 29.

Early wicket

Chasing 152 for victory, Nalanda started their innings badly when Madura was out in the first ball of the innings. Because of the early wicket Nalanda had to be extra cautious, and the run rate was extremely slow in the first few overs. add to that Yasas was out in the first ball of 3rdover which was Tharindu’s second over, caught behind again for 1 run. The score at the time was 1 run for the loss of 2 wickets. In came Nalanda Captain Namal to join Arunalu and they began rebuilding the innings cautiously. Arunalu was the next to go when the score was at just 50runs in 10 overs. Kavinda was the next batsman, who provided good support to Namal, who at the other end was batting nicely.

Kavinda was unfortunately out LBW when he was at 11 and the score at 71 in the 13th over. Nalanda’s veteran cricketer and coach, Viraj joined Namal and continued to build the score with cautious batting. Namal on the other end was building his score and reached his half century with a scintillating boundary. Nalanda scoring rate was slow when they reached the 100 run mark which happened in the 16th over. However, with Namal timing the ball sweetly, the target was always at sight. He made sure to keep his wicket till last over as he knew it’s his responsibility to take them over the line.

In the 17th over, with the help of couple of wides and poor deliveries they managed to score 19 runs.

Whilst Viraj was out for 11, next batsman Asanka provided sufficient support to Namal, who finished the match with a boundary off 2nd ball of the last over. Namal remained unbeaten at 90 and all celebrations began of a hard-fought win for Nalanda.

Scores:

Old Anandians: 151 for 5 in 20 overs (Achinda 54 not out, Yasitha 31 not out, Thakshitha 17,Nimesha 16, Ranga 2 for 24 and Kavinda 2 for 29)

Old Nalandians: 155 for 5 wickets in 19.2 overs (Namal 90 not out, Arunalu 12, Viraj 11, Kavinda 11, Asnaka 11 not out, Tharindu 3 for 16)

Earlier in the day Old Nalandian’s second XI team led by Sandun Kosala outplayed Old Anandians second XI team and won the Lionel Mendis challenge trophy for the 3rd consecutive year. Nalanda Skipper Sandun Kosala won the toss and elected to bat first.

Nalanda openers started brilliantly and reached 100 runs in the 11th over. Nalanda veteran Diptha Premasinghe was the top scorer with a well-paced inning of 57 runs off 3 deliveries.

Last year batting hero Chanaka Senathilake also batted well reaching his 50 off 48 balls. Whilst Nalanda was headed for a big score, with the introduction of Aruna Ratnaweera’s left arm spin, quick wickets resulted in Ananda restricting Nalanda to 147 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs. Aruna bowled well to take 5 wickets for 22 runs in his 4 overs.

Ananda in their run chase lost wickets at regular intervals as Nalanda bowlers were tight in their line and length.

Top scorers for Ananda were Dhanuka Prageeth 18, Nipuna 14, Shalin 14. The asking rate was so high, Ananda managed to get only 104 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in their allotted 20 overs.

For Nalanda Upul was the pick of the bowlers who took 3 wickets for 15 runs, Sajith 3 for 17 runs and Captain Kosala took 2 wickets for 9 runs.

Scores:

Old Nalandians : 147 for 7 wickets in 20 overs (Diptha Premasinghe 57, Chanaka Senathilake 50, Aruna Ratnaweera 5 for 22)

Old Anandians: 104 for 9 in 20 overs (Dhanuka Prageeth 18, Nipuna 14, Shalin 14. Upul 3 for 15, Sajith 3 for 17 and Sandun Kosala 2 for 9)

The last event of the day was the Ananda vs Nalanda seven a side tag rugby encounter that was played for the P de S Kularatne challenge shield. Old Anandians Rugby team came up with good performance with two tries on either side of the break, while Nalanda replied with one try at the dying seconds of the game.

The result saw Old Anandians clinch the P de S Kularatne challenge shield for the third consecutive occasion.

Awards:

Tag Rugby Encounter: Man of the Match – Rizan Hanis of Ananda College.

2nd XI Cricket Encounter:

Best Batsman: Diptha Premasinghe of Nalanda College

Best Bowler: Aruna Ratnaweera of Ananda College

Man of the Match: Chanaka Senathilake of Nalanda College

Battle of the Maroons 2018:

Best Batsman: Namal Gunawardena of Nalanda College

Best Bowler: Tharindu Paththapperuma of Ananda College

Man of the Match: Namal Gunawardena of Nalanda College.

 


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