The Colonel Henry Steele Olcott Schools Current Players and Old Boys Cricket Tournament, organized for the 24th time by the Colonel Henry Steele Olcott Memorial Sports Foundation, will be held on December 12, 13, and 14in Colombo.
The tournament will be hosted by Ananda College, Colombo, and the Ananda College Old Boys’ Association.
The Under-19 Schools Tournament will be a six-a-side format, held throughout the day on December 12th at the newly renovated Ananda College Ground, Colombo.
The Over-40 Old Boys’ Cricket Tournament is scheduled for December 13 and 14, and will see the participation of a large number of former Sri Lankan Test, ODI, and T20 players, including World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga, who excelled in international cricket.
The tournament previously featured eight leading Buddhist schools established in Sri Lanka under the pioneering leadership of Colonel Henry Steele Olcott: Ananda College (Colombo), Dharmaraja College (Kandy), Mahinda College (Galle), Nalanda College (Colombo), Dharmasoka College (Ambalangoda), Rahula College (Matara), Dharmapala Vidyalaya (Pannipitiya), and Maliyadeva College (Kurunegala).
This year, two more long-standing Buddhist schools, Vijaya College (Matale) and Sri Rahula College (Katugastota), have been added to the tournament.
The Colonel Henry Steele Olcott Memorial Sports Foundation was established in 1996 under the pioneering initiative of the late Bandula Warnapura, Sri Lanka’s first Test Cricket Captain.
The inaugural tournament, held to honour Colonel Henry Steele Olcott, the founder of Buddhist educational institutions in Sri Lanka, took place in 1999, hosted by Nalanda College, Colombo.
The Olcott group of schools has produced the highest number of national cricket players and the highest number of Sri Lankan Captains, including World Cup-winning Captain Arjuna Ranatunga (Ananda), the late Bandula Warnapura (Nalanda), Mahela Jayawardene (Nalanda), Rangana Herath (Maliyadeva), Dinesh Chandimal (Ananda/Dharmasoka), and Lasith Malinga (Mahinda).
Notably, former Sri Lankan Captains Dinesh Chandimal and Lasith Malinga both represented the Colonel Henry Steele Olcott Memorial Trophy Cricket Tournament during their school years.
In last year’s tournament, Ananda College, Colombo, and Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala, were declared joint champions of the Inter-School Six-a-side tournament, while Rahula College, Matara, won the Old Boys’ tournament.