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
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.
Participants Ananda College, Colombo Dharmaraja College, Kandy Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala Mahinda College, Galle Nalanda College Colombo Rahula College, Matara.
Past Venues and Winners Year Host School Champion 1999 Nalanda College Colombo Maliyadeva College 2000 Dharmasoka College Dharmaraja College 2001 Dharmapala Vidyalaya Dharmapala Vidyalaya 2002 Mahinda College Ananda College & Dharmasoka College 2003 Rahula College Dharmapala Vidyalaya & Dharmasoka College 2004 Ananda College Dharmapala Vidyalaya 2005 Dharmapala Vidyalaya Dharmapala Vidyalaya 2006 Maliyadeva College Dharmapala Vidyalaya 2007 Dharmapala Vidyalaya Dharmapala Vidyalaya 2008 Rahula College Dharmapala Vidyalaya 2009 Dharmapala Vidyalaya Ananda College 2010 Mahinda College Dharmapala Vidyalaya 2011 Ananda College Dharmapala Vidyalaya 2012/2013 Rahula College Rahula College 2014/2015 Not held -2016/2017 Nalanda College Maliyadeva College2018 Maliyadeva College Dharmapala Vidyalaya2022 Nalanda College Ananda College2023 Ananda College Dharmapala Vidyalaya
External links Ananda Net Battle of the Maroons
References