Better known in cricketing circles as Antonians, St. Anthony’s College Katugastota continue to dominate the school cricket structure with their winning abilities.
Cricket was introduced to St. Anthony’s in 1903 by Rev. Fr. Andrew Vanlangenberg. Many friendly matches were played among clubs until they got established as a team. In 1914 the Ceylon Schools Cricket Association was formed and there was an opportunity for them to play inter-school matches against Kingswood College, Dharmaraja College and St. Benedict’s College.
In the history of Antonian cricket Jack Anderson stands out as the greatest batsman ever produced by the Antonians. He came into recognition in 1914 as a 14 year old boy. He was well recognized for his batting consistency and created many records. In I918 he scored a mammoth inning of 291 runs (7 sixes and 54 fours) against St. Thomas’ College and it remained as a record for many years to come. He scored five consecutive centuries in seven games and reached the 1000 run mark. His centuries were scored against Wesley College – 157, St. Benedict’s – 109, St. Thomas’- 291, Royal College – 184 and 111 runs versus Trinity College. He was also the first Antonian to score a century versus Trinity College. In his cricketing career he has scored eleven centuries.
John Halangoda, another well respected personality brought back St. Anthony’s College cricket to the limelight in the 1950s. A.C.M. Lafir became the first player to represent the Ceylon team. He along with Ronnie Stevens put on a grand opening stand of 266 runs in their match against Trinity College in 1954. In his school cricket career Lafir had eight centuries. His best scores were 184 versus St. Benedict’s, 176 versus Trinity and 139 versus Ananda.
It is well remembered when W. Premaratna, highly talented all-rounder and skipper of the school team won the inaugural Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award in 1956. His brilliant consistency in batting paved the way for him to score centuries over more formidable school teams such as Ananda and St. Benedict’s in 1954 and 1955.
Ronnie Stephens, Doranegama brothers and the Sims brothers were a few other names that are well remembered for their performance during the era.
In 1960 and 1961 Charli Joseph won the Schoolboy Cricketer of Year award for two consecutive years. He was an outstanding all-rounder and scored centuries over more prominent schools in the island. Charli and his brother Michael, both scored centuries in same inning against Dharmaraja College which included T.B Kehelgamuwa who was one of the fastest bowlers in school cricket in that era. Charli Joseph, in his school career scored nine centuries which included the highest score of 127 runs vs Trinity in 1960.
Franklyn Burke was the next to follow in the footsteps of Antonian cricket legends. He won the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award for his brilliant all-round performance. He was a brilliant stroke-maker and accounted for many all-round performances in school cricket. His best score was 133 not out vs Trinity in 1962.
Jayantha Udukumbura who captained the school team in 1966, won the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award for his brilliant batting performances. He scored three centuries against more formidable schools such as Ananda, Kingswood and Dharmaraja. He was an all-rounder and a brilliant captain.
Mahesh Gunathilaka who captained the team in1970, won the prestigious Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award for his outstanding capabilities behind the stumps. He was the third Antonian batsman to pass the 1000-run mark, which included the highest score of 156 runs.
He was selected to make his Test debut during the inaugural Sri Lanka match in 1982 that was against England. He was called for national representation while he was an undergraduate student. He was the number one choice as the wicket keeper for the Sri Lanka team.
Bernard Perera, who captained the school team in 1976 was one of the best all-rounders in school cricket. Unfortunately he was only selected to represent the national squad as the 12th man despite scoring two centuries at Sri Lanka trial selection matches for the England and Pakistan series. He scored six centuries in his school career and his best was 155 not out versus Trinity College in 1976. He also went on to receive the Best All-round Cricketer and Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year awards in 1976.
The year 1990 saw the Antonian spin trio of Muralidaran Piyal Wijetunga and Ruwan Kalpage in action. All of them played in the same Test squad. It was a great moment for Antonian school cricket.
Muttiah Muralidaran won the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award in 1991. He bagged over 100 wickets in two consecutive school seasons. He achieved remarkable performances that cannot be matched by any spin bowler in Sri Lankan cricket history. He played 133 Test matches and captured 800 wickets while his ODI analysis read as 534 wickets in 350 games.
Sajith Fernando became the sixth Antonian to win the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year award out of the seven occasions it was awarded to Antonians. Scoring 1000 runs and capturing 100 wickets in 1991/1992 season was a unique record. He also scored three centuries in his school career and his best score was 156 not out versus Maliyadeva. He also won the best batsman’s award at the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Awards ceremony.
Thaiyar Mohamed captained the team in 1977 won the Best All-rounder award for his outstanding performances. He scored three centuries in the 1977 season against St. Sylvester’s, St Benedict’s and St. Sebastian’s.
Damian Nadaraja, a prolific run getter, captained the school team in 1982. His brilliant batting performances enabled him to score six centuries during the 1986/1987 seasons. He won the Best Batsman and runner-up Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year awards.
Ruwan Kalpage captained the school team in 1989 and excelled as a superb all-rounder. He won the Best Bowler award and runner-up Best All-rounder awards at the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket award ceremony in 1989.
Nimnaka Jayasinghe, captain of the First X1 team in 2018/2019 captured 100 wickets at two consecutive seasons and won the Best Bowler award at the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Awards.
Kawishka Piumal represented the Sri Lanka U19 team during the tour of Pakistan and home Test series against West Indies in Sri Lanka in 2023. He won the Best Bowler runners-up award at the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Awards in 2023.
Among the other school cricketers who contributed to Antonian cricket were Wasantha Senevirathne, Shanthilal de Silva, Gamini Debahepuwa, Suresh Gunathilake, Premalal de Silva, Angelo Liyanage, Pradeep Fernando, Rienzi Perera, Damian Nadaraja, Angelo Wickramasooriya, Nuwan Kalpage and Prasad Ranawaka to name a few.
Players who entered the national pathway and represented Ceylon/Sri Lanka:
Jack Anderson in 1920 represented Ceylon vs Europeans
Lionel V. Jayaweera in 1927 represented Ceylon vs New Zealand
A.C.M. Lafir in 1954 for Ceylon vs M.C.C and went on to be the opening batsman till 1962
Jack Robertson in 1971 for Ceylon vs Tamil Nadu-Gopalan Trophy
Ralston Burke in 1971 for Ceylon vs Tamil Nadu – Gopalan Trophy
Mahesh Gunatilake in 1982 debut first Test vs England
Marlon Von Hagt in 1985 vs Australia. Made his Test debut at Lord’s in 1984
Muttiah Muralidaran 1992 first Test debut vs Australia and ODI debut vs India in 1993
Ruwan Kalpage 1993 Test debut vs India and ODI debut 1992 vs Pakistan
Piyal Wijetunga 1993 Test debut vs South Africa
Coaches who contributed to St Anthony’s cricket include (not limited to John Halangoda) are H.E.Wittachy, H.M. Muthalib, T.K. Hannan and T.M.A.Cooray.
Sunil Fernando, past cricketer of the school, a highly qualified coach was responsible for coaching many Antonian cricketers from a very young age and grooming them to the national pathway. Among the players were Muttiah Muralidaran, Ruwan Kalpage and Piyal Wijetunga.
At present St, Anthony’s play in the Under-19 Division-1 ‘’A’’ category and performed well at the recently concluded season. They are coached by former Trinity College cricketer, Kavinda Jayasooriya a well qualified coach who has done a great job grooming a very young side. The present skipper Thisaru Ekanayake represented the Sri Lanka Under -19 team.
Rev. Father Henry Bernard Wijeratne, present principal has dedicatedly supported the rise in the standard of cricket at the school.
