Battle of the Maroons (Colombo)

The Battle of the Maroons is an annual cricket encounter played between Ananda College, Colombo and Nalanda College, Colombo.

History

The encounter was first played in 1924 and the match is played as a three-day encounter starting from this year 2025 at Singhalese Sports Club grounds. Nalanda are the current holders of the Trophy having won it in 2022 under the leadership of Dineth Samaraweera. The first Battle of the Maroons was played in 1925 and Nalandians were led by B.S. Perera while N M Perera led Anandians. Nalanda won the inaugural contest. Sri Lanka's first Test cricket captain, the late Bandula Warnapura, was a proud product of Nalanda College, while Arjuna Ranatunga, who captained the Sri Lankans in the World Cup victory in 1996, was a product of Ananda College. This year's 95th encounter ended in a draw. Battle of the Maroons 48th one day encounter that was played this year was abandoned due to rain. In 1951, Stanley Jayasinghe became the first Nalandian to represent All Ceylon Cricket Team while still being a schoolboy playing against Pakistan in Pakistan

The match is contested for the Dr. N. M. Perera Memorial Trophy. The one day 50 overs match is played for P de S Kularatne trophy.

;95th three-day match
;48th limited overs match