Battle of the Maroons is the annual cricket match between two of the largest government-run national boys' schools in

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Dharmaraja College, Kandy Dharmaraja College (), founded in 1887, is a boys' school in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist school with around 300+ teaching staff and over 4,000+ students. A land area of is owned by the school spreading over half of the Dharmaraja hill ...

and

Kingswood College, Kandy Kingswood College, Kandy () is a State school, public Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school for boys in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The school educates over 3,500 students from Primary education, primary to Secondary education, secondary le ...

. It is the oldest cricket match series in the central province and second oldest in Sri Lanka, having been played for years.

History

The first match was played in 1893, with the Dharmaraja team captained by

Don Baron Jayatilaka Sir Don Baron Jayatilaka, KBE ( Sinhala:ශ්‍රීමත් දොන් බාරොන් ජයතිලක; 13 February 1868 – 29 May 1944) known as ''D.B. Jayatilaka'' was a Sri Lankan Sinhalese educationalist, statesmen and dip ...

, then-incumbent principal of Dharmaraja College, and the Kingswood team captained by A. E. Spencer. It was played at the Bogambara Stadium, which is no longer a cricket venue. This match, along with a few subsequent matches, were not exclusively schoolboy matches, with staff members from each school included in the teams. The first all-schoolboy

Big Match In Sri Lankan cricket, a Big Match is an annual school cricket match typically played between two rival schools in Sri Lanka. These schools often have a long history of competition, some rivalries lasting over a century. Big matches have bec ...

was played in 1899, with J. C. de Mel captaining Dharmaraja and T. B. Marshall captaining Kingswood. All big matches were played at the

Asgiriya Stadium Asgiriya Stadium, (, ) is a cricket ground located in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Uniquely owned by Trinity College, Kandy, it is situated a short distance away from the city centre. Historically, it was a prominent venue for Test matches when internatio ...

until 2010, and since 2011, all big matches have been played at the

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium Pallekele International Cricket Stadium (, ) is a cricket stadium in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The stadium opened on 27 November 2009 and became the world's 104th Test venue in December 2010. Location and background The stadium is located about east ...

. The One Day Encounter between

and

began in the year 1989 with Prasanna Dahanayake as the captain of Dharmaraja College. The 118th encounter took place as a three-day match from 4 to 6 April 2025 at

. This marked the first time in its history that the encounter was held over three days.

Series summary

Currently, Dharmaraja leads with 37 wins against 19 by Kingswood, with 62 matches ending in a draw. All matches from 1981 to 2010 ended in a draw. The last time a decision was possible during the series was in 1980 when Dharmaraja defeated Kingswood by nine wickets under the captaincy of Janaka Mendis. Kingswood's last win was in 1958 under C. M. Fernando. On 26 March 2011, Dharmaraja College registered a seven-wicket win under the captaincy of Hemal Munaweera at the Pallekale International Cricket Stadium, ending nearly 30 years of indecisive matches. Latest test match (2025) was played at the

and the match was a draw and the latest limited-over match (2025) was played at the same venue and

Dharmaraja College Dharmaraja College (), founded in 1887, is a boys' school in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist school with around 300+ teaching staff and over 4,000+ students. A land area of is owned by the school spreading over half of the Dharmaraja hill ...

won the match.

Highlights

* 1893 - The first encounter which included staff members and school boy's played at Bogambara grounds. Dharmaraja was led by a member of the staff, Don Baron Jayathilake, later Don Baron Jayathilake. Kingswood was led by Spencer. * 1899 – The inaugural Kingswood vs Dharmaraja match for schoolboys only was played on 1st of July. Kingswood was captained by T. B. Marshall. * 1914 – A. Jayasundera took 8 wickets for 90 runs as Dharmaraja beat Kingswood by innings and 17 runs. * 1916 – R. Burke took 8 wickets for 7 runs as Kingswood beat Dharmaraja by innings and 24 runs. * 1918 – Dharmaraja were out for 190 runs by Kingswood. * 1943 – First century in the series, scored by R. L. Arthur Alwis of Dharmaraja College. The Rajan's skipper, T. B. Talwatte, was deprived of this honour as he was injured by the Kingswood pace bowler, M. T. Jaimon and Talwatte had to leave the field temporarily during which time Arthur completed his century. Later, Talwatte too completed his century. M. T. Jaimon took 5 wickets for 90 runs for Kingswood. The match was won by the Rajans by innings and 152 runs. J. P. Jayasena captained Kingswood. * 1951 – Kingswood led by the left-hander Shelton R. S. Perera, scored an exciting win over Dharmaraja, having had to score ten runs in six balls and one run in two balls, which they did with a ball to spare. The winning stroke was hit by the captain himself. * 1952 – Chandra de Silva scored 158 for Dharmaraja in this match, played at Randles Hill. Asoka Perera scored 148 for Kingswood. The match ended in a draw. De Silva's 158 was the highest individual score in the series. * 1956 – The highlight of the drawn encounter was the bowling feat of M. Nizar of Kingswood who took 6 wickets for 48 runs. * 1957 – Kingswood amassed 401 for 9 wickets with Maurice Fernando scoring 101 runs. Dharmaraja replied with 269 runs in the first innings. * 1958 – Kingswood defeated Dharmaraja by 10 wickets, the last time Kingswood defeated Dharmaraja. In this match, Kingwood was captained by C. M. Fernando who was selected "The School Boy Cricketer of the Year". Dharmaraja was captained by D. D. T. Alwis. The Kingswood opening pair, considered the best among schools, was Maurice Fernando and Herly Jayasuriya. They put on an unbroken stand of 102 runs in the second innings enabling Kingswood to win. Herly scored a brisk 50 while Maurice scored 43 runs. * 1959 – C. Ratnavibushana scored 167 for Kingswood, surpassing the earlier record of 158 as the highest individual score. * 1960 – The match ended in a tie but Kingswood's principal, K. M. de Lanerolle, awarded the game to Dharmaraja having gone through the scorebook for better performance. * 1964 – The match was postponed due to rain. In the rescheduled game the Rajans were two runs short of victory when the stumps were drawn. * 1965 – The Jayasundera twins, Ananda and Upananda, played for Dharmaraja. Earlier Kingswood had twins. * 1967 – The Kingswood skipper Tissa Jayathilake batting well with Mohan Kodituwakku, declared the innings still short of 9 runs of a century, which would have earned him the distinction of scoring consecutive centuries having scored an unbeaten 100 in the 1966 match. Another feature of this match was the bowling of the left-arm spinner Sena Abeygunaratne, who took 8 wickets for 39 runs in the Dharmaraja 1st innings of 143 runs. Dharmaraja-Kingswood

* 1976 & 1977 – P. B. Wickremasuriya of Kingswood and Ajith Naranpanawe of Dharmaraja entered the record books by scoring centuries in both years thus becoming the only two players to score centuries in consecutive matches. * 1981 – Cricket Captain of Dharmaraja College Janaka Mendis registered an outright win over Kingswood College. Since then for 30 years there was no decision. * 1983 – Senaka Dissanayake scored a double century for Dharmaraja, the only double century in the series, which stands as the highest individual score for the series. * 2001 – First one-day match played in colour outfits which Dharmaraja won under Anuradha Jayasundara. * 2011 – First match played in

and the first school cricket match to be played at that stadium. Dharmaraja College won by 7 wickets under the captaincy of Hemal Munaweera putting an end to the 30 years of draws. * 2012 – Dharmaraja College won the 106th Battle of the Maroons by 7 wickets under the captaincy of Viraj Karaputugala. * 2013 – The 107th Battle of the Maroons encounter was held on 22 and 23 March 2013 at the Asgiriya International Stadium. The limited-over match played on 30 March 2013 at the same venue. * 2017 - The 111th Battle of the Maroons encounter was held on 17 and 18 March 2017 at the

. Kingswood was led by Avishla Chandrasiri and Dharmaraja was led by Deshan Gunasinghe. * 2018 - The 112th Battle of the Maroons encounter was held on 16 and 17 March 2018 at the

. * 2019 - The 113th Battle of the Maroons encounter was held on 15 and 16 March 2019 at the

and the match was draw. * 2022 - The 114th Battle of the Maroons encounter was held on 11-12 March 2022 at the

and the match was draw. The limited-over match played on 23 March 2022 at the same venue and Dharmaraja College won the match. * 2022 - The 115th Battle of the Maroons encounter was held on 22 and 23 September 2022 at the Asgiriya International Stadium and the match was draw. The limited-over match played on 2 October 2022 at the

and the match was a draw. * 2023 - The 116th Battle of the Maroons encounter was held on 24 and 25 March 2023 at the

and the match draw. The limited-over match played on the 9th of April 2023 at the same venue and Dharmaraja College won the match by 50 runs. * 2024 - # The 117th Battle of the Maroons encounter was held on 22 and 23 March 2024 at the

and Dharmaraja College won the match under the captain of Dulara Bandulasena. Opening Batsmen of Dharmaraja College Pulindu Perera scores 92 and Pulindu Perera (92) with Onajith De Silva (60) build a partnership for 152 points in the first inning of the match. 2nd day Kingswood lost the first wicket with only scoring 10 points. But with the help of Kavija Gamage and Yosath Abekon Kingswood scored 178/10 in the 1st inning. But with Dakshika Manukalpa"s in the 2nd inning of the match Kingswood only scored 78/10. Dakshika Manukalpa took 8 wickets for 30 runs as the Dharmaraja won the match by an inning and 69 runs. # The 35th limited-over match was held on the 31st of March 2024 at the

and Kingswood College won the match. Vice captain of Kingswood College Kavija Gamage top scored with a 102 with 13 fours and 1 six. Rajans bowlers, Pakshika Manukapa got 3 wickets for 38 and Arosha Mahagedera 2 wickets for 8. Thanks to Kingswood bowlers and keepers Kingswood manage to win the one day encounter by 9 runs. * 2025 - # The 118th Battle of the Maroons encounter was held on 4th, 5th and 6th of April 2025 at the

and the match was draw. # The 36th limited-over match was held on the 19th of April 2025 at the

and Dharmaraja College won the match.

Overall result

Results of the 2025 encounters

;118th three-day encounter ---- ;36th limited-overs encounter

Squads for the 2025 encounter

''Above squads are according to the 118th Battle of Marrons encounter and 36th limited over encounter.'' Pallekale International Cricket Stadium

Notes

;Match reports

References

External links

Dharmaraja College

Kingswood College

Kingswood College Old Web
{{Subject bar , portal1 = Sri Lanka , portal2 = Schools , portal3 = Cricket , commons = Yes , commons-search = Battle of the Maroons (Kandy) , d = Yes , d-search = Q5269313 Battle of the Maroons (Kandy) Battle of the Maroons (Kandy) 1893 establishments in Ceylon Recurring sporting events established in 1893 Student sport in Sri Lanka Big Matches Cricket in Kandy Schools cricket matches Sri Lankan cricket in the 19th century Sri Lankan cricket in the 20th century Sri Lankan cricket in the 21st century