Henry Steele Olcott Memorial Cricket Tournament Explained

Henry Steele Olcott Memorial Cricket Tournament
Administrator:Old Boy Association of a participating team
Cricket Format:Limited Over Cricket
Tournament Format:One Game
First:1999
Participants:8
Most Successful:Dharmapala Vidyalaya Pannipitya (11 titles)

The Henry Steel Olcott Memorial Cricket Tournament is conducted annually among the past cricketers of eight premier Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka in honour of Col. Olcott, the founder of Buddhist education in Sri Lanka. The organising function in each year is rotated among each the participating Old Boy Associations [1]

Beginning

This cricket tournament was started in 1999 following the 75th Anniversary Celebrations of Nalanda College Colombo. About this time, groups of former students from Nalanda, Dharmaraja and Ananda met informally in the evenings at the Bloomfield Cricket Club. It was during one of these gatherings that the idea of a limited over tournament among the Old Boys of the cricket-playing Buddhist Schools was proposed by the 1st Test Captain of Sri Lanka, Bandula Warnapura of Nalanda. Accordingly, the first tournament of the series was held by the Old Nalandian Sports Club on 12 December 1999 at the Nalanda College Grounds.[2]

Participants

Past Venues and Winners

YearHost SchoolChampion
1999Nalanda College ColomboMaliyadeva College
2000Dharmasoka CollegeDharmaraja College
2001Dharmapala VidyalayaDharmapala Vidyalaya
2002Mahinda CollegeAnanda College & Dharmasoka College
2003Rahula CollegeDharmapala Vidyalaya & Dharmasoka College
2004Ananda CollegeDharmapala Vidyalaya
2005Dharmapala VidyalayaDharmapala Vidyalaya
2006Maliyadeva CollegeDharmapala Vidyalaya
2007Dharmapala VidyalayaDharmapala Vidyalaya
2008Rahula CollegeDharmapala Vidyalaya
2009Dharmapala VidyalayaAnanda College[3]
2010Mahinda CollegeDharmapala Vidyalaya
2011Ananda CollegeDharmapala Vidyalaya
2012/2013Rahula CollegeRahula College
2014/2015Not held-
2016/2017Nalanda CollegeMaliyadeva College
2018Maliyadeva CollegeDharmapala Vidyalaya
2022Nalanda CollegeAnanda College
2023Ananda CollegeDharmapala Vidyalaya

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sri Lanka Sports News Sundayobserver.lk . 24 January 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120210181449/http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2007/12/02/spo10.asp . 10 February 2012 . live .
  2. Web site: Col. Henry Steel Olcott Memorial Trophy . 24 January 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080208063217/http://mahinda99.com/OllcottThephy.html . 8 February 2008 . dead .
  3. News: Seylan Bank Sponsors Col. Henry Steel Olcott Memorial Cricket Tournament. 27 December 2009. The Sunday Leader. 15 February 2010. Colombo.