Olcott schools Sri Lankan Legends and Olcott schools UAE Legends will compete in the Bandula Warnapura Memorial cricket encounter in UAE on February 10. The matches will be played in Royal Sports Cricket grounds in Ajman, United Arab Emirates commencing at 7.00 am.
Arjuna Ranatunga will lead the Sri Lankan Legends team of Olcott Schools, while Ravi Gunaratne an old boy of Dharmapala College, will lead the UAE Legends team of Olcott Schools.
The fifteenth annual Colonel Henry Olcott Memorial Cricket Tournament and get together organized by the Old Boys of Ananda, Nalanda Colombo, Dharmaraja- Kandy, Maliyadeva- Kurunegala, Rahula – Matara, Dharmapala -Pannipitiya, Mahinda- Galle and Dharmasoka- Ambalangoda, will be held in Dubai.
The President of Henry Steel Olcott Cricket Memorial Foundation Rohan Somawansa an old boy of Matara Rahula said we are going to hold this encounter annually to make friendship between Olcott schools players in Sri Lanka and UAE. Last January Henry Steel Olcott Cricket Foundation successfully organized the Henry Steel Olcott Cricket tournament at Asgiriya Cricket Stadium in Kandy.
The cricket tournament was started in 2007 with five schools; Ananda, Nalanda, Mahinda, Dharmaraja, and Maliyadeva and since then, this event has grown from strength to strength. The number of participating schools has increased to eight in 2011 with Dharmapala, Dharmasoka, and Rahula, in line with the Olcott Schools Cricket Tournament being conducted in Sri Lanka. Late Bandula Warnapura was the man behind the success of Sri Lanka’s Henry Steel Olcott Cricket tournament and in memory of first Test cricket captain Bandula Warnapura match will be played, said Rohan Somawansa. Our sponsors, Singer Sri Lanka and Hayleys Solar give big support for this event .
Parallel to the annul Olcott schools cricket tournament a T20 cricket match between Olcott schools Sri Lankan Legends and Olcott schools UAE legends is scheduled to be played in memory of Bandula Warnapura on the same day and at the same venue.
The legends match is organized by the Olcott Schools Alumni in UAE in coordination with Colonel Henry Steele Olcott Memorial Sports Foundation (CHSOMSF) in Sri Lanka.
All the players for this legends match are above 40 years of age, while 1996 cricket World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga and few other outstanding cricketers will also participate in the match for Olcott Schools Sri Lanka Legends team.
Sri Lankan Ambassador to the UAE, an Old Sokian of Ambalangoda Udaya Indrarathne, Consul General of Sri Lanka in Dubai and Northern Emirates Alexi Gunasekara and former Commander of Sri Lanka Army General Mahesh Senanayake will be the guests of honour for this event.
In last year’s tournament, Ananda College won the Cup Championship. Mahinda won the Plate while Dharmasoka was the winners of the Shield.
Henry Steel Olcott Legends Sri Lanka team: Arjuna Ranathunga (Capt), Lal Ranasinghe ( V.Capt) ,Jeewantha Kulathunga ,Chandana Ekanayake, Nihal Pathirage, Kamal Rohana, Asela Wewalwala, Sampath Hettiarachchi, Chaminda Rajapaksa, Asela Patabandige, Sanjaya Attanayake, Duminda Somaweera, Saman Wijeratne, Kapila Sathyapriya, Priyantha Udayarathne, Priyantha Uyanhewage, Anura Perera, Upul Sumathipala (Manager), Rohan Somawansa (President Henry Steel Olcott Cricket Foundation)
Dhammika Ratnaweera