Olcott Memorial cricket tourney begins

Mahinda P Liyanage- Galle Central Special Corr.

Henry Steele Olcott Memorial Cricket tournament, a popular cricketing tourney in the island will be held for the twelfth consecutive year at Galle International Cricket Stadium for three days continuously commencing on January 8. The tournament is a customary event among the eight premier Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka originated in 1999 following a collective resolution by some veteran past cricketers of Nalanda, Dharmaraja and Ananda Colleges who then use to gather informally at Bloomfield Cricket Club.

Most admired player

The initial doctrine to hold the tournament in honour of Col. Olcott, founder of Buddhist education in Sri Lanka had been initiated by a Lanka's most admired cricketer, our first Test cricket captain Bandula Warnapura.

The organization of the tournament is rotated in turn among the Old Boys' Associations of eight participating schools. Accordingly Nalanda College Old Boys' Association became the foremost host of the tournament in which Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala emerged champions. In the previous year organizers were the Old Boys' of Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya and in that Nalanda College excelled being the winners.

This time the tournament (which was scheduled to be held in December last year and had to be postponed due to bad weather) is organized by the Cricket Foundation of Mahinda College.

Contesting teams in the tournament are Nalanda, Dharmapala, Maliyadeva, Mahinda and Rahula colleges. Among the prestigious institutions, with top performances throughout the tournaments Dharmasoka, Ambalangoda is the most successful being the foremost champion so far.

Cricket heroes

It would be an enthralling experience for all cricket fans to watch the pronounced talents and skills of a host of eminent cricket heroes of the golden cricket past of Sri Lanka.

Among the prominent cricketers participating are Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanjeeva Ranatunga, Brendon Kuruppu and Charith Senanayake of Ananda, Senaka Angulugaha and Mahinda Pethiyagoda of Dharmaraja, H Premasiri and D S P Tedlal of Dharmasoka, Gajaba Pitigala, A J Samarasekara of Mahinda, Ranjith Madurasinghe and Ajith Ekanayake of Maliyadeva, Kumara Dharmasena, Hemantha Devapriya and Gamini Wickramasinghe of Nalanda and J C Gamage of Rahula.

The first match of the 12 over main tournament will be played Mahinda vs Dharmasoka and the second between Dharmapala and Nalanda. In the third match Dharmaraja will clash against Ananda while in the forth Maliyadeva will meet Rahula.

The first semi final will be played between the winners of the first match and same of the second. Winners of the third match will face the winners of the fourth in the second semi. Final will be between both winners of the two semis.

First semi final

First semi final for the plate will be between the losers of the first and the second matches while the two losing teams of the 3rd and 4th matches will fight in the second semi for the plate. Matches for plate would be 6 over limited games.

Matches of the current teams of the eight contesting schools for the trophy will be played on the final day of the event (January 10).