S. Thomas’ and Ananda to play for Atapattu-Halangoda trophy | Page 2 | Sunday Observer

S. Thomas’ and Ananda to play for Atapattu-Halangoda trophy

5 January, 2020
Marvan Atapattu-Mahinda Halangoda
Marvan Atapattu-Mahinda Halangoda

The traditional under-19 schools cricket encounter between S. Thomas’ College and Ananda College will be played for a trophy for the first time that will also honour former Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu and ex-SSC captain Mahinda Halangoda in whose names the prize is on offer.

The match between the two historical powerhouses of schools cricket will be played on January 6 and 7 at the SSC ground in Colombo which was also the home turf of the two legendary cricketers of the respective schools.

Atapattu captained Ananda College before going on to represent SSC and eventually Sri Lanka.

He became one of the most successful Sri Lankan batsmen with 5,502 Test runs and 8,529 ODI runs.

Atapattu scored six double centuries and sixteen centuries in his Test career, which included centuries against all Test-playing nations.

Halangoda, the lanky left arm paceman incidentally played junior cricket at Ananda College before moving on to the school by the sea, where he represented the Thomian team.

His most famous contribution to Thomian cricket was the unbeaten 70 he scored on the third and final day of the centenary Royal-Thomian big match when he batted out the entire final session with tailender CP Richards after the pair went in for tea with their side eight wickets down in the second innings and still trailing Royal College.

Their feat prevented Royal, led by Ranjan Madugalle, of imminent victory.

Halangoda went on to captain the Thomian team in 1981 before joining SSC where he went on to captain all three divisions of the club, including the Premier Division (1989 – 1993).

He also had the privilege of having won championships in all three divisions, as well as winning the Premier championship during his entire tenure (all four years) as captain of SSC.

He also went on to captain the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team. S. Thomas’ won last year’s match against Ananda which marked their first win since 1975.(YK)

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