The Murali Harmony Cup 2016
The Murali Harmony Cup took place from the 20th – 25th September across 5 venues in the North for the 5th consecutive year. Although the first ‘Murali Cup’ was an international school boy tournament which took place in Seenigama in 2011, it transformed into the ‘Murali Harmony Cup’ in 2012 when it was moved to the north, and became a local tournament for 12 school boy teams and 8 ladies teams. By 2014, the overwhelming popularity of the tournament, especially in the local school circuit meant the number of participating boys’ teams was expanded from 12 to 16 with 360 cricketers from across Sri Lanka coming together for a week of friendship and competition. All teams are provided with two match kits and since 2015, they also receive a pair of shoes.
Participating Teams: Boys:
Ladies:
The original motivations for this tournament still remain strong, with the aim of developing rural cricket and encouraging unity and harmony across all communities. The continued support and commitment of our trustees, legendary Sri Lankan cricketers Muthiah Muralidaran, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena who spend time visiting all the venues and advising & guiding the teams during the Murali Cup also plays a key role in motivating these teams and encouraging them to perform their best and gain new experiences.
“This is the first time we have participated in this tournament and we had some reservations because we had never even visited the North before,” said the Kalutara Vidyalaya Team, “but from the moment we played our first match, those doubts were put to rest. Our team is made up of many young players and this has been a very eye opening experience for them.”
The boys’ matches were all played in the Twenty/20 style, with two matches taking place every day at the Kilinochchi Central College Grounds, Oddusuddan IODR Oval in Mullaitivu, Jaffna Central College Grounds and St. Patrick’s College Grounds in Jaffna. The teams share accommodation centres during their stay where they are encouraged to mingle and get to know each other.
A parent who accompanied their son’s team said, “Here, children from different socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicities, languages and religions have a chance to associate. They learn about how other people in this country live, and that is the most valuable experience of all.”
The top four teams from each venue then went on to play in the semi-finals which took place in Oddusuddan; Seenigama Combined Schools, St. Joseph’s College- Colombo, Mahinda College- Galle and Nalanda College- Colombo battles it out on Saturday the 24th of September with Mahinda College and Nalanda College advancing to the finals.
The 8 participating ladies’ teams were broken into Groups A and B, with three 15 over matches taking place every day at the Mankulam Mahavidyalayam Grounds, from the 21st to the 24th. As the two teams with the highest points from each group, Nittambuwa Ladies and Matale Ladies then went on to the finals on the 25th, which was held at the Kilinochchi Central College Grounds. “This has been a very special tournament for us, we spent five joyous days arm in arm with players from other teams enjoying great friendships,” said the Matale Ladies. All throughout the tournament, we saw the strengthening of bonds between the participating teams with the first day of play on the 21st coinciding with International Peace Day. A special programme was introduced this year to promote interaction between the teams. At the official opening ceremony which was held on the 20th, the day before the tournament began, attended by Kumar Sangakkara, all the participants including the Teams & their Captains, Coaches and Managers/ Masters in Charge were briefed on the importance of their participation in the special interactive games and programmes organised to encourage friendship and interaction. At the awards presentation held at the conclusion of each match, the teams were asked questions about their experiences and friendships which encouraged them to exchange ideas. The players from the various teams were also mixed together and encouraged to play games and have sing-alongs together which helped to create and strengthen new friendships.
St. Aloysius College from Ratnapura said, “We shared a sense of true brotherhood with the Kilinochchi Combined Schools Team who were sharing our accommodation centre, and are delighted that we had the opportunity to talk and get to know them.” The day of the Finals arrived with great fan fair. The teams had the chance to meet and talk to both Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena over the course of the tournament and now they were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Muthiah Muralidaran to watch the finals take place. The first match of the day was the ladies’ final between Nittambuwa Ladies who were the defending champions, having taken home the title in 2015 and Matale Ladies. The Nittambuwa Ladies came in with steely determination and managed to prevail, becoming the very first ladies’ team ever to win two Murali Harmony Cup tournaments. In an afternoon filled with excitement, Nalanda College- Colombo faced off against Mahinda College- Galle. While Nalanda had a preliminary advantage having played at the Kilinochchi grounds throughout the tournament, Mahinda played a clinical and well executed game that eventually won them the 2016 Murali Cup trophy bringing the day to an end among much fanfare and celebration. This year the ladies’ and boys’ player of the tournament each received a cheque of Rs. 50,000/- courtesy of Subway and as part of our rural cricket development initiatives, Kilinochchi Central College who hosted the finals, Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalayam, Hindu College Maha Vidyalayam, Mulankavil Maha Vidyalayam and Dharmapuram Maha Vidyalayam received cricket equipment to help improve the school cricket programmes while Kilinochchi Central were also awarded a cheque to install new fencing around the perimeter of the grounds. In addition, we were greatly honoured that the Northern Province Minister of Education, Cultural Affairs and Sports, Hon. Thambyrajah Gurukularajah presented Cricket Development Scholarships sponsored by the Patsy & Norbert Mellawa Scholarship Fund to northern cricketers during the 2016 Murali Harmony Cup finals in the presence of Mr. Ranjan Mellawa and Mrs. Christine Seneviratne, in order to encourage regional cricketers.
Individual awards for outstanding performances during the tournament went to; Player of the Ladies final – Pabasara Ranabahu (Nittambuwa Ladies) Player of the Boys final – Ravindu Welihinda (Mahinda College- Galle) Best Batter of MHC (Ladies) - Satya Sandeepani (Seenigama Ladies) Best Bowler of MHC (Ladies) – MG Sewandi (Shakthi Ladies) Player of the tournament MHC (Ladies) – Ruwini Madushika (Nittambuwa Ladies) Best Bowler of the tournament MHC (Boys) – Umeksha Dilshan (Nalanda College- Colombo) Best Batsman of MHC (Boys) - Chatura Milan (Seenigama Combined Schools) Player of the tournament MHC (Boys) - Ravindu Welihinda (Mahinda College- Galle) Runner Up Ladies Final – Matale Ladies Runner Up Boys Final - Nalanda College- Colombo We at the Foundation of Goodness are incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to stage this tournament now for 5 consecutive years in the north which would not have been possible if not for all the support we have received from our trustees Muthiah Muralidaran, Kumar Sangakkara & Mahela Jayawardena, all our sponsors and the Sri Lanka Army. Our most heartfelt thank you goes out to our main sponsor Arinma Holdings, co-sponsors Tokyo Cement & Fortune, and associate sponsors MAS (who have provided the players’, officials’ and umpires’ kits free of charge since 2012), Access (for sponsoring water for the tournament since 2012), Sri Lanka Sports Association of Queensland and Subway.
“I am writing this to thank you and your crew for organising such a great event. It was a great opportunity to meet up new friends from all over the country, it helped to build up sharing, learn to respect others, culture, camping experience, etc. I would like to thank you again for sharing yours and other donors’ wealth for clothing, accommodation, grounds. Last year when I was in Richmond College, I had an opportunity to participate in the Murali Cup Unity tour to Dubai. It was a turning point in my life & now my career is going well with that experience which was given to us by KP Foundation. May God Bless You and FOG !” -Kevin, Mahinda College- Galle. 30th September 2016  |
