St. Benedict’s celebrates Sesquicentennial with U19 double wicket
St. Benedict’s College Kotahena who are celebrating their Sesquicentennial (1865-2015) have made arrangements to conduct a schools invitation double wicket cricket tournament scheduled to be played on April 25 and 26 at their school ground in Kotahena.
The tournament jointly organized by the Old Benedictines Sports Club and the St. Benedict’s College cricket wing will see the participation of 16 teams around the island.
The organising committee is spearheaded by Basil Perera a past captain of St. Benedict’s as the chairman and supported by the OBSC president Malsiri Perera another renowned sportsman of St. Benedict’s and cricket wing chairman Laith Madappuly under the advice from the Director of St Benedict’s Rev. Bro. Janaka Fonseka FSC.
Project Chairman Basil stated that the first ever invitation U-19 double wicket tournament is their contribution towards the celebrations of their alma mater adding that the tournament will be played on a knockout basis.
The schools invited to participate along with host St. Benedict’s are St. Sebastian’s Moratuwa, St. Anne’s Kurunegala, De Mazenod Kandana, De La Salle Mutual, St. Mary’s Chilaw, St. Joseph’s Colombo, St. Peter’s Colombo, St. Anthony’s Katugastota, Prince of Wales, St. Aloysius Galle, S. Thomas’, Royal Colombo, Ananda, Zahira Colombo and St. John’s Jaffna.
The winning team will receive the 150th Anniversary Celebrations Trophy along with a cash award of Rs. 50,000/-, medals and certificates while the runner-up will also receive a trophy and a cash award of Rs. 25,000/-
Apart from that special awards, awards will also be presented to the best batsman, best bowler and best fielder with a trophy, medal, certificate and a cash of Rs. 15,000/- each.
There will be neutral fielders for the tournament which will be provided by three schools Thurstan, Lumbini MV and Moratu MV. The tournament will begin with the first match due to be played between St. Peter’s and St. Anne’s.
The other matches scheduled to be played are St. Anthony’s vs St. Benedict’s, St. Aloysius vs Royal, S. Thomas’ vs St. John’s Jaffna, St. Joseph’s vs De Mazenod, St. Mary’s vs Ananda, St. Sebastian’s vs Prince of Wales and Zahira vs De La Salle.
The proceedings on day one at 9.00am will be patronized by Rev. Bro. Denzil Perera FSC, Rev. Bro. Director of St. Benedict’s Janaka Fonseka FSC, Rev. Bro. Praveen Vaz FSC sports co-coordinator of St. Benedict’s and the organizing committee. The chief guest at the awards ceremony will be Felix Dias a distinguished old boy of St. Benedict’s while the old boys Selva Peramul, Joe Saverimuthupulle, Anuruddha Withannachchi, Nimal Gunatunga and Mervyn Fernando will grace the occasion as guest of honour.