Battle of Gold 20th encounter in Batticaloa:

Koneswara, Shivananda clash today

The eastern province will witness one of its great cricket encounters today when Shivananda National School from Batticaloa clash with Sri Koneswara Hindu College, Trincomalee in the 20th Battle of the Gold to be played today at the Shivananda grounds, Batticaloa grounds commencing at 9.00 a.m.

The inaugural encounter between these two Rama Krishna Misson schools were played in 1993 where the Trincomalee school won. Interestingly they were led by a Muslim student named R. M. Fowmie showing that there's no language or religion for sports.

The following year Shivananda won and levelled the series. The third edition in1994 between the two schools ended in a draw, but the win was awarded to Hindu by virtue of leading in the first innings.

Thereafter the match is being played as a 50 over encounter. However in 2006 the match did not take place due to the unrest in the east. In the 19 matches played so far Shivananda lead the series with 11 wins and the rest were won by Koneswara.

Although these two schools play in the under 15 and under 17 division two Limited over tournament conducted by the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association, the schools' authorities give priority to studies of O/L and A/L students and both schools don't play regaular cricket beyond the age of 17. However both schools give special training to the under 19 guys to take part in this big annual event.

This year Shivananda is led by Antony Salom Tenarents and Puwaneswaran Thaveskar leads Koneswara and both captains are confident that their sides will entertain the crowd by putting up a good show.

Shivananda have won the last three battles in-a-row while Koneswara last won in 2009.