TRINITY-ANTONIAN ENCOUNTERS – A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Additional facts:

• The 23 wins by TCK were registered in 1915, 1918 to 1928, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1938, 1939, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1951, 1986 and 2012.

• SACK won their games in 1914, 1917, 1929, 1948, 1954, 1962, 1968, 1972, 1981, 1990 and 1992.

• The encounter was not played in 1916, 1956, 1957, 2001, 2020 and 2021.

• The 1956 and 1957 games were cancelled due to a disagreement between the two schools regarding the age rule and in 2001, the encounter did not take place as Trinity terminated their season early in the year due to disciplinary reasons. The games in 2020 and 2021 were postponed and eventually cancelled due to Covid and prevailing situation in the country.

• The 2025 encounter, held from April 3 to 5, marked the first-ever 3-day game in the series.

• Out of 34 outright results generated by both teams, 14 have ended in an innings win (10 by TCK and 4 by SACK).

• Interestingly, despite Trinity’s dominance in the series, the Antonians have a better record post- independence, i.e from 1948 onwards, with 8 wins to 3.

First Wins:

 Note:

The following records are based on information extracted from the archives of both schools and from newspaper reports where available. Despite the best efforts of the author, the data is incomplete, especially from the 1914 and 1915 games where apart from the results, no other information was available.

Largest Victory Margins:      

 Narrowest Victory Margins:

Note: the victory margin of the 1915 encounter at Asgiriya was not available at the time of compiling the records and therefore not considered here.

Highest Totals

The three highest totals registered by the two schools at each venue:

Lowest Totals

The three lowest totals registered by the two schools at each venue:

Note: Pallekelle is excluded here due to a lack of games at this venue.

Individual Records:

BATTING:

Highest Score:

First century:

Twin fifties in a game:

Mahesh Gunathilake (SACK)         61 & 62* at Asgiriya (1971)         

J Arambepola (TCK)                       52 & 52* at Asgiriya (1979)

Marlon Von Hagt (SACK)                61 & 52 at Katugastota (1982)

Chandimal Herath (SACK)              61 & 54 at Asgiriya (2022)

Two hundreds in the Series:

TB Werapitiya (TCK)                        100 (1943) and 143 (1944). Also scored 96 (1942)

Ronnie Stephens (SACK)                108 (1952) and 103 (1954)

Three or more 50+ scores in the series:

4 - Marlon Von Hagt (SACK)                         61 & 52 (1982), 57 (1983), 123 (1984). Also scored 49 (1979)

3 – TB Werapitiya (TCK)                               96 (1942), 100 (1943), 143 (1944)

3 - ACM Lafir (SACK)                                    65 (1950), 74 (1951) and 176 (1954)

3 – Mahesh Gunathileke (SACK)                 76 (1970), 61 & 62* (1971)

3 – Hasitha Boyagoda (TCK)                       55* (2016), 90 (2017), 72 (2018)

 Note: SA Odayar (TCK), Sajith Fernando (SACK) and Tyrone de Silva (SACK) came close to being part of this group. Odayar made 48 (1927), 60 (1928) and 87 (1930). He missed out in 1929 when the Trinitians were dismissed for 95 and 92 in the two innings giving the Antonians a rare outright win in that period. On the other hand, Sajith scored 70, 46 and 55 in three consecutive games between 1990 to 1992. Tyrone made 49 (2000), 81 (2002) and 64 (2003) and he missed out in 2001 by virtue of the game being cancelled.

Centuries: (Total 32, SACK 20, TCK 12)

^Note: Meryl Dunuwille scored the first century on the new turf at Katugastota.

Centuries by both teams in the same match:

Two Centuries by the same team in one game:

Nervous 90s:

Charlie Joseph is the only Antonian in this group of seven players who reached 90 without going on to a century. He is also the only batter to be stranded in the 90s without being dismissed.

Most Runs:

Marlon Von Hagt has scored the most runs in the series, with 465 runs in 12 innings at an average of 38.75. ACM Lafir (396 runs in 6 games) and TB Werapitiya (350+ runs) occupy second and third slots.

BOWLING:

Best bowling figures in an innings:

Best bowling figures in a match:

Three or more 5-wicket hauls in the series:

3 – RB Ettipola (TCK)                       5/34 (1922), 5/46 (1923), 7/44 (1925). Also took 4/20 (1924)

3 – C Dharmalingham (TCK)           9/74 (1938), 6/17 & 6/31 (1939)

3 – Pradeep Fernando (SACK)       5/27 (1980), 5/60 & 6/43 (1981). Also took 4/26 (1979)

3 – M Muralitharan (SACK)            6/19 (1990), 6/58 & 6/36 (1991)

Note: PR Maralande (TCK) captured 5/54 (1918), 4/27 (1919), 4/23 & 4/32 (1920) and 7/28 (1922). TOM Deen (SACK) with 4/29 (1952), 5/29 & 6/32 (1953) and 4/52 (1954) also came close to joining the group.

10-wicket match bags: (Total 10, SACK 6, TCK 4)

 Most wickets:

32           PR Maralande (TCK) in 6 games at 8.40

27           Pradeep Fernando (SACK) in 4 games at 11.96

25           RB Ettipola (TCK) in 4 games

Note: C Dharmalingham (TCK) and M Muralitharan (SACK) did outstandingly well in two of the three games they were able to represent, finishing with 21 and 20 wickets respectively for the series.  TOM Deen (SACK) with 21 wickets and C Shanmuganathan (TCK) with 19 wickets were also consistent wicket takers in the series.

Best all-round performances (50+ runs and 4+ wickets in an innings)

Notes:

• Antonian Franklyn Burke is the only player in the history of Trinity-Antonian encounters to have scored a century and captured a 5-wicket haul in the same match.

• EWA Buultjens (TCK), GB Perera (TCK) and Sajith Fernando (SACK) had the distinction of scoring a half-century and capturing a match bag of 10-wickets in the same game.

• Trinitian PR Maralande (261 runs and 32 wickets in 6 games) has the best record as an all-rounder in the series.

Played in most games:

Highest Partnerships: