Old Mahindians beat Old Richmondites in both over-50 and below-50 matches in their Brotherhood-Beyond-the-Boundary inaugural cricket tournament played at the MCA ground in Colombo.
Former Mahindian fast bowler Kumar Samarasinghe who opened the attack with the late DLS de Silva and renowned consultant physician Dr Ananda Wijewickrama the distinguished Mahinda old boy were the chairmen of the joint organising committee who wanted to give out a welcoming message to young cricketers of the two schools Richmond and Mahinda.
“We have our annual big match encounter and it is called Lovers’ Quarrel of the Southern Province. But recently we saw some very unpleasant incidents at our big match and we wanted to develop brotherhood and this is the main target of this over-50 and below-50 matches among old cricketers,” said Samarasinghe.
Ex-Sri Lanka allrounder Upul Chandana hammered a blistering knock of an unbeaten 99 in just 57 balls to guide the Old Mahinda over-50 team to victory while former Mahinda skipper Asela Wewalwala hit an unbeaten 73 which was a match winning score for the below-50 team.
Former Mahinda skippers Dulip de Silva, Geethanga de Silva, Duminda Wickramasinghe, Hasith Dharshana and Hirantha Wijesinghe along with former Richmond skippers C. K Hewamanna, Mendis brothers Nishantha and Chandima, Samantha Lorensuhewa and fast bowler Chamila Gamage were some of the key players on show.
Mahinda’ s PHKH Ranasinghe who hit 162 in 1971 to set up a record in the big match series and retired Air Vice Marshal Ravi Arunthawanathan who was the former Richmond wicket keeper batter and former ICC under 19 World Cup tournament director in 2000 were the chief guests and presented the awards.