12th Battle of the Oldies ends in a draw

Mayor’s Cup cricket encounter

‘The Battle of the Oldies’ Cricket Encounter in Nuwara Eliya, one of the most anticipated sporting events during the April holiday season took place last Saturday. First played 14 years ago by a few dedicated old boys, this annual event has grown significantly and is now recognized as the longest continuous cricket match in the hills of Nuwara Eliya.

The 12th encounter ended in a draw last Saturday. The Gamini XI skipper Lakmal Eranga won the toss and elected to bat first. The Old Xavierian V. Sujeevan and Mohomed Irshad captured the first three wickets for 18 runs. However, the Gamini players took control of the game to post 283 runs in 39 overs.

Buddika Tharanga (92 runs in 65 balls), Chinthaka Nishantha (69 runs in 62 balls), Asanka Silva (55 runs in 45 balls) were the main scorers for Gamini. V Sujeevan, N P M Ishad, K Muralidaran, Christopher John Paul and Sudaharan shared bowling honours.

In reply, Xavierians were 88 runs for five wickets at the end of  the 19th over when the match was interrupted by rain.

Sanjeewa Weerasinghe (27) and Jerad Anthony  (17n.o.)  were the chief scorers for the Old Xaverians.

Old Xaverians XI

Yasitha Anuradha, Buddika Tharanga, Kasun Dananjaya and Lakmal Eranga shared the wickets for Gamini.

The encounter coincided with the 76th Anniversary of St Xavier’s OBA and the 164th Anniversary of the College.

The Organizing Committee comprised of members of the Gamini PPA and St Xavier’s OBA namely, Kapila Senaratne, Benjamin Jeganathan (Jt. Secretary SXCOBA), Nilan de Zoysa (Secretary Jt. SXCOBA), RM Nawaz(Past President SXCOBA), Suren Ekanayake, V.Balendran, C. Emmanuel( Manager-Xaverian Cricket), Nandika Jayasinghe, John Christopher, Ujitha Samarawickrama, Mohomed Faleel, Mohomed Zaky, Subash Gorden, Dilan Dominic, Sunanda Ratnasiri, Andrew Ludowike, Asoka Ratnasiri, Lakmal Eranga and Sanjeewa Weerasinghe.