Trinity-Antonian “Big Match” celebrates “A Century of Friendly Rivalry”

  The much awaited Centenary Cricket encounter between Trinity College Kandy and St. Anthony’s College Kandy will  be played under the title; ‘A century of friendly rivalry’ on the 10th and 11th of March 2017 at the Pallekelle International Cricket Stadium.
 
In line with its celebrations to commemorate the Centenary big match between the two schools, the Trinity-Antonian joint committee recently hosted a press conference at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo to officially launch the web-site of the event; www.trinityantonian.com and announce its activities leading up to the Big Match.
 
St. Anthony’s and Trinity College are two of the oldest Colleges in Kandy and the Trinity-Antonian Cricket encounter is the 6th oldest Inter-school Cricket tournament in Sri Lanka. The two schools have a very rich cricket history and two of the oldest schools that took up the game in Sri Lanka. According to past records, Trinity College played their very first cricket match in 1893 whereas St. Anthony’s in 1899. 
 
Speaking about the centenary big match, Mr. Andrew Fowler-Watt Principal of Trinity College Kandy said, “The annual Trinity-Antonian Big Match is one of the most prestigious cricketing encounters in the Sri Lankan schools cricket calendar. I am extremely pleased to be a part of this historic event, as it is going from strength-to-strength in terms of traditions and cricketing excellence.”
 
While commending the on the great discipline shown by the past and present boys/cricketers both in and out of the field, Rev. Henry Wijeratne OSB, Principal/Rector of St. Anthony’s College, Kandy said, “This is indeed a remarkable achievement by two of  the biggest and oldest schools in Kandy. ’Hill Country’s Battle of the Blues’is an exemplary match to all the other schools as it is great platform that showcases class, talent and the spirit of friendly rivalry.”
 
A Joint Committee headed by the Principals of Trinity College and St. Anthony’s College  have released the official event logo to be used in connection with all activities related to this Centenary Big Match. There will be a series of events such as the joint dinner dance and two get togethers ( Kandy and Colombo ), the traditional Tea party between the two teams, Antonian Cricket Carnival and many more activities which have been organized to commemorate this historic occasion. The joint committee is being ably supported by the Old Antonians Cricket Wing, the Trinity College Cricket Foundation and the Old Trinitians Sports Club in planning and implementing the match and related events.

The tally, as it stands today after 99 encounters has Trinity College with 23 wins, St. Anthony’s College with 12 wins and 64 ending without a decision. While a majority of wins registered by Trinity were in the pre-independence era, the Antonians have had the better of exchanges since independence. In the latter part of the last century, a trophy was introduced in memory of John Halangoda, who was a product of Trinity College and subsequently cricket coach at St. Anthony’s College.
 
Both schools have a proud history of producing some excellent cricketers who have gone on to shine in both local and international arenas. Amongst them are Jack Anderson, A.C.M.Lafir, MahesGoonatilleke, Bernard Perera, Marlon VonHagt, RuwanKalpage, PiyalWijetunge, MuttiahMuralitharan and Sajith Fernando from St. Anthony’s and Ravi Ratnayeke, Nilantha Ratnayake, KaushalyaWeeraratne, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachith Pathirana, NiroshanDickwella and Lahiru Kumara from Trinity. These two schools have produced the most number of international cricketers and also the most number of School Boy Cricketers of the year from the Central province.The world’s highest wicket taker MuttiahMuralitharan and the highest runs scorer Kumar Sangakkara are products from these two schools which is indeed a unique feature.