P. W. Perera Trophy cricket concludes

Ananda- Dharmaraja under 19 traditional cricket match for the P.W.Perera Trophy concluded yesterday at Lake View grounds, Kandy.

Ananda and Dharmaraja, two leading Buddhist Schools established by the Buddhist Theosophical Society in 1886 and 1887 respectively have been playing cricket with each other since 1893 when the Dharmaraja team was led by their Principal at the time Sir D. B. Jayatilake, the national hero.

P.W. Perera Trophy was introduced in 1999 by the cricket wing of Ananda Old Boys led by the former captain of Ananda, Charith Senanayake in appreciation of P.W. Perera’s great service to uplift cricket in both Dharmaraja and Ananda as the cricket coach of both schools at different times.

P.W . Perera , the former Ananda College cricket captain was appointed to the staff of Dharmraja in 1941 by L. H. Metthananda the Principal, mainly to coach the cricketers. He coached from 1941 to 1943 at Dharmaraja. The teams produced by P. W Perera were undefeated outstanding teams. Under his guidance five players scored centuries. They were T. B. Talwatta, P. L. Arthur Alwis, Rajah Mettananda, S. G. Munasinghe and M. R. Goonawardana. The 1942-43 team was considered unofficial champions having won all the matches played during that season. P. W Perera left Dharmaraja accepting an appointment in the Prisons Department.

He retired from the Public Service as the Superintendent of Prisons. From 1960 he guided Ananda, his alma mater producing many Sri Lanka cricketers. He died in 2006 on the eve of the Ananda Dharmaraja match at the Peradeniya Campus grounds and the players observed 2 minutes silence at the commencement of the game and continued playing the match wearing black arm bands as a mark of mourning.

The first year the trophy was awarded (1999) it was won by Ananda with an outright victory under the captaincy of Jithendra Perera. Dharmaraja was led by Asanga Marapana. The trophy was retained by Ananda, since then it was awarded only at an outright victory. Last year at Ananda Mawatha the match was drawn.