North meets south in cricket encounter

By PD de SILVA

The Manimaran-Wijesiriwardena Trophy will be up for grabs when Rahula College Matara host Hartley College in Jaffna at the seventh edition of the Battle of the Ends, a traditional encounter between two schools situated at the southern and northern most points of the island.

The annual encounter between these two schools was envisioned by two illustrious cricketers, Ramakrishnan Manimaran of Hartley College and Lal Wijesiriwardena of Rahula College who are now domiciled in Australia. 

The inaugural game was hosted at the Uyanwatta Stadium in 2017 and has been played continuously except from 2020 to 2022 due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The series so far has been one-sided with Rahula winning all six previous encounters.

The Rahula XI led by Nadil Sandesh will be selected from Janiru Thejana Wijayawardana, Indumin Pabasara, Aayu Geesara Kaviraj, Pramuditha Nawanjana, Naviru Nethwan Abeydiwakara, Ishantha Gimhan Abesingha, Senuk Dewditha, Jayaru Kaveeshwara Ekanayake, Eeshala Uththiya Bandara, Lithum Seunitha, Chathum Geenath Rathnayaka, Shewan Shanuka, Sandalu Hasaranga Rajapakse, Hirun Manyuga, Divan Sri Nithish, Minidu Idusha and Dulana Abeysekara.

Hartley College will be led by T Abishaan and the team will be selected from R Kishaaran, K Kanalventhan, S Mathushan, P Atheesh, V Venukaran, V Vishrukeethan, S Thanushanth, J Ilankeeran, R Jathushan, S Vikasan, D Blessin, U Abinayan, T Jishnuram, A Arshaan

Hartley College will miss the services of Sri Lanka Under-19 player, Vigneshwaran Akash who moved over to St Joseph’s College in Colombo this season.

Akash was the top scorer for Hartley in last year’s encounter which Rahula won by seven wickets.