Trinity–Antonian Cricket Encounter

Trinity-Antonian Cricket Encounter
Sport Cricket
Timeline 1914 – present
Tournament format Annual 2-day test match encounter
Participants St. Anthony's College, Kandy
Trinity College, Kandy
Current champion St. Anthony's College (2014 – 1st Innings win)
Most successful Trinity College 23 Outright
St. Anthony's College 11 Outright
Draw 61[1]

The Trinity–Antonian Cricket Encounter (known as The Hill Country Battle of the Blues) is the leading annual school cricket match (Big Match) of the hill country which is played between Trinity College, Kandy and St. Anthony's College, Kandy since 1914. It is considered to be one of the oldest annual school cricket encounters in Sri Lanka.[2] This encounter is being played for the John Halangoda Memorial Trophy and is awarded to the team who manages to win the match by means of an outright win or failing that, a first innings win. But an innings win will not go into the records as a win to the relevant team. Out of the 97 games played, the Trinitians have won 23 with 11 ending in favour of the Antonians. The last outright win for the Antonians was in 1992 and Trintiy won last under Niroshan Dickwella in 2012 after the 1986 win under Thushara Weerasuriya. The victory came after 35 years.

St. Anthony's College Kandy are the current champions after their 1st innings win in 2014. The 100th encounter in 2017 ended in a draw with only one session of play possible as the match was abandoned due to bad weather.

The winner of the limited overs encounter, usually played a week after the 2-day match, will be awarded the Sir Richard Aluwihare Trophy.

History


The first encounter was played at the Bogambara Grounds in March 1914; the Antonians won. Trinity won the next match, and a long-contested series has followed.[3]

1918 to 1929, during the World War I St. Anthony's College premises including the practice pitches and the playing-fields were occupied by the British Army. As a result, Antonian cricket deprived and they had lost to Trinity for 11 times consecutively. If the college premises were not occupied by the British Army, Antonians could have easily won those matches as they had some brilliant players like Jack Anderson during that period.[4] The post-war period (1929–1947) was inauspicious for the Antonians, as they had a poor run in the field. Trinity during that time had C. Dharmalingam, a left-arm bowler who for two consecutive years nagged the Antonians with his left-arm spin. In 1938 he took 9 for 14 and in 1939 had the figures of 6 for 17 and 6 for 31 inclusive of a double hat-trick, a world record.

Then there was T. B. Werapitiya with scores of 100 in 1943 and 143 in 1944, the highest score made by a Trinitian. Meanwhile, the Antonians came back fighting in 1947, and nearly tumbled the Trinitians Asgiriya after getting back their premises, with facilities restored and having the services of a renowned cricket coach in Mr. John Halangoda. The strong Trinity batting line-up crumbled under the spin bowling of Dicky Dunuwille, the Antonian mystery bowler who was later responsible in changing the fortunes of Antonian cricket. Antonians however lost the match by 68 runs due to a spectacular fielding performance where seven close-in-catches were grabbed by Trinity's Clarence Senanayake to dismiss the Antonians.

The Antonians won the very next encounter (1948) at Katugastota Oval where Dicky Dunuwilla taking 6 for 10 once again mesmerized the Trinitians and the Antonians since then have not looked back. During the post-independence period (1947–1997) Trinity has registered only four wins against the Antonian tally of eight wins. Most Antonian victories (11) in the series have been registered during the period.

A disagreement between the two schools, regarding the age rule resulted in the cancellation of the match in 1956 and 1957.[5] Also, in 2001 the match did not play as the Trinity stopped playing mid way during that season due to disciplinary reasons.[6]

Notable persons who have played

Past records

Notable performances

Name School Record Year
Jack Anderson SACK Scored 111 runs-First Century of the Series 1918
A.C.M. Laffir SACK Highest Individual score of 176 runs 1954
A.C.M. Laffir and Ronnie Stevens SACK Record Opening Stand of 266 runs A.C.M. Laffir (176) & Ronnie Stevens (120) 1954
N/A TCK Lowest Total 37 runs 1951
N/A SACK Lowest Total 44 runs 1938
C. Dharmalingam TCK Double Hat-trick[7] 1939
Lalith Ramanayake TCK Fastest century scored 100 runs in just 72 minutes 1970
Meril Dunuwille SACK First century at SACK grounds 1970

See also

References

  1. ↑ Razak, Rukshan (11 March 2012). "The Island". Island.lk. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
  2. ↑ Marikar, Hafiz (2011-05-18). "Looking back to Trinity's last win". Dailynews.lk. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
  3. ↑ "A peep into the past of the Trinity – Antonian series". Static.espncricinfo.com. 1997-03-13. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
  4. 1 2 "Keen tussle expected". Nation.lk. 2008-03-09. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
  5. ↑ Wijesena, Wickrema (2009-03-03). "Trinity-Antonian 'Big Match' 50 years ago". Island.lk. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
  6. 1 2 3 Jiffrey, S. M. (2012-03-04). "Trinity with 10 outright wins this season holds advantage over St. Anthony's". Sundayobserver.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
  7. ↑ Abdeen, S. M. Jiffrey (2009-03-12). "Trinity-Antonian should be anybody's game". Dailynews.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
  8. ↑ http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/03/21/spo02.asp
  9. ↑ http://www.dailynews.lk/2013/03/07/spo11.asp
  10. ↑ "The Island". Island.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  11. ↑ "'Big Match' Fever Runs High In Kandy | The Sunday Leader". Thesundayleader.lk. 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  12. 1 2 "Sri Lanka Sports News | Online edition of Daily News – Lakehouse Newspapers". Dailynews.lk. 2011-05-18. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  13. ↑ "Sri Lanka Sports News | Online edition of Daily News – Lakehouse Newspapers". Dailynews.lk. 2010-03-13. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  14. 1 2 "Trinity – St. Anthony's 93rd Battle Of The "Blues" | The Sunday Leader". Thesundayleader.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  15. ↑ "Sports". Nation.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  16. ↑ "The Sunday Leader Online". Thesundayleader.lk. 2007-03-31. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  17. 1 2 "History of Anthonian Cricket" (PDF). SACKOBA Qatar. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  18. ↑ "The Island – Sports". Island.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  19. ↑ "Sports". Sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  20. ↑ "sports01". Island.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  21. ↑ "Daily Mirror Online : Sports". Archives.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  22. ↑ shyam (2002-03-03). "::: The Sunday Times : Sports". Sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  23. ↑ "The Sunday Times Sports Section". Sundaytimes.lk. 2000-03-12. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  24. ↑ "The Sunday Times Sports Section". Sundaytimes.lk. 1999-03-07. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  25. ↑ "Sri Lanka News Round-up (14 Mar 1998) | Page 2". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  26. ↑ "Close contest expected in Trinity-Antonian". Static.espncricinfo.com. 1997-03-12. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  27. ↑ "Sri Lanka Sports News". Sundayobserver.lk. 2008-03-16. Archived from the original on 2008-03-19. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  28. ↑ "Dangerous 'Lions' arrives at 'Eagles' NEST : Mirror Sports". Sports.dailymirror.lk. 2011-03-11. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  29. ↑ "The Island-Sports". Island.lk. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  30. ↑ "Sri Lanka Schools: The Trinity-Antonian glimpses of the past (12 March 1999) | Page 2". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
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