DSS locked and loaded, Mahanama assures discipline

Captain of Mahanama College Dulnith Sigera (left) and Captain DS Senanayake College Randisha Bandaranayake pose with the trophy

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana 

The 20th edition of the Battle of the Golds cricketing encounter between Mahanama College Colombo and the DS Senanayake College will be played from May 8-10 at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground, where both teams have vowed for the first victory of the three-day match. 

Randisha Bandaranayake from DS and Dulnith Sigera from Mahanama will lead their respective teams which belong to the Top Tier 1 (A Division) segment in school cricket which marks a special feature this year. 

Addressing a Press conference held at the DSS clubhouse, the principal of DS Senanayake, Sampath Weragoda, said his boys are ready to face any challenge, to which the principal Mahanama, Sandamali Bandara, responded with an assurance of a disciplined game of brotherhood by her players. 

The organising of the match, which is being done by a joint committee for the first time ever, announced the series of matches to commence with the three-day game from Friday followed by the one-day match for the Aravinda de Silva Challenge trophy on May 17 at the same venue and the T20 match for the KNP de Silva Memorial trophy on May 22 at the CCC ground.

The Battle of the Golds encounter, which was initiated in 2006, will see its second three-day test after the first three-day encounter in 2025 in a diversion from the two-day matches played for the past 18 years. 

Since its inception, the first victory for DS Senanayake College was secured in 2014 under the captaincy of Binura Fernando. From then on until 2025 the match ended without a decisive result and the trophy still retained by the DSS. 

For the 20th Battle of the Golds encounter Mahanama players Dulnith Sigera and Chamika Heenatigala represented the Sri Lanka under-19 team. 

The first double century in the series was scored by DSS captain Gaviru Senehas while Mahanama’s Malith Maduranga became the first player to reach 1000 runs. 

Mahanama has achieved an impressive streak of eight consecutive victories in the limited over games and also winning the inaugural T20 encounter in 2025.