Royalists highly motivated to win, Thomians go out as favourites
Thevin Eriyagama (S. Thomas’ Captain)
S. Thomas’s College, Mt. Lavinia begin as favourites against Royal College, Colombo in the 141st ‘Battle of the Blues’ cricket encounter but both teams prefer to go in as underdogs when they vie for the prestigious Rt. Hon. D.S. Senanayake Memorial Shield from March 12 to 14 at the SSC grounds.
All-rounders Thevindu Senarathne and Thevin Eriyagama will lead Royal and S. Thomas’ respectively in the 2020 edition of ‘Battle of the Blues’, powered by Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC.
Both Royal and S. Thomas’ have recorded four outright wins apiece this season.
Thevindu Senarathne (Royal Captain)
Royal promoted to division one this season played 15 matches, registered outright wins against St. Anthony’s, Katugastota by 83 runs, Ananda by 8 wickets, De Mazenod, Kandana by 9 wickets and Isipathana by an innings and 22 runs in addition to first innings wins against St. Joseph’s and Mahinda.
The Thomians played 17 matches this season, trouncing St. John’s, Jaffna, Dharmapala, and Dharmasoka, Ambalangoda by innings and defeating Ananda by 5 wickets. They conceded first innings points to Trinity , Prince of Wales and Nalanda but won their remaining encounters on first innings with two matches being abandoned and one drawn.
The Thomians are on a roll having amassed 438 runs in a practice match against D.S. Senanayake College a few days ago.
“We are confident and are favourites but I prefer to go as underdogs. In my seven years of my second stint as coach, this is the only year Royal have a well balanced side. Because of that I won’t underestimate the Royal team. I prefer going as underdogs though we won last year,” reiterated Thomian head coach Dinesh Kumarasinghe.
Royal’s head coach Jehan Mubarak was pragmatic ahead of the encounter being wary of the opposition despite the boys thirsting for revenge.
“S. Thomas’ are very good side. Even without Kalana Perera they are very strong. They bat deep. Even their last man can bat. It’s not going to be easy. Just because we lost last year, everybody is motivated and want to try and bring the shield back. But it is going to be a lot of hard work because S. Thomas’ are a good team this year as well,” said the former Sri Lanka opening batsman.
Mubarak felt it was difficult to compare their performance from last season.
Royalist Kamil Mishara
“Last year we played in division two where the standard is a lot lower. We have been playing in division two for two years. Overall the development is good. Players have improved over the season. Bowling has been good. In batting most of season we were without Ahan (Wickramasinghe) and Kamil (Mishara), the two Sri Lanka Under-19 players. After they came back, batting looks much better at least on paper,” he said.
Royal skipper Senaratne has led from the front stroking an unbeaten 109 off 81 balls and claiming 3 for 17 to propel his side a memorable win over Ananda after 11 years.
The leading run-getter for Royal has been Kamil Mishara who made over 600 runs at an average of 75.38 despite missing many matches when he was on national duty. The left-hander slammed two centuries with a top score of 158 against Isipathana and marathon 141 against Wesley. He cracked 69 against England to help Sri Lanka win the Tri-Series final in the Caribbean but showed indifferent form during the Youth World Cup in South Africa.
Wicket keeper batsman Kavindu Madarasinghe has the second highest aggregate of 578 and has been in ominous form making a record-breaking unbeaten 200 off just 242 balls against Trinity at Asgiriya Stadium a fortnight before the big match. The left hander’s monumental knock surpassed the previous highest score of 181 not out by Royalist Sumithra Warnakulasuriya in 1981 at Reid Avenue in the Royal-Trinity. Madarasinghe also cracked five half centuries.
Another southpaw Isiwara Dissanayake has the next best aggregate of 495, including a defiant 110 to force a draw against St. Peter’s at SSC ground. He also missed a century against St. Joseph’s making 94.
Ahan Sanchitha Wickramasinghe has also been in prolific form in both domestic and international matches scoring 425 runs at an average of 60.71 for Royal this season with a top score of 113 not out against Prince of Wales. An exciting strokemaker, Ahan cracked 97 off just 27 balls against Trinity and also missed out a century by five runs against St. Sebastian’s.
Thomian Ravindu Rasantha
He was in sparkling form at the Youth World Cup, slamming 64 from 48 balls against New Zealand and 59 off 50 balls against Scotland.
Thomians have plenty of strokemakers in the top order with no less than four players aggregating over 500 runs this season. Ryan Fernando leads the charge with 564 runs with a top score of 114 against St. Benedict’s. Maneesha Rupasinghe has four fifties in his aggregate of 544. Left-hander Umayanga Suwaris (513) has two centuries under his belt with a top score of 122 against St. Anne’s while Gavin Botheju (507) hit four fifties at an average of 50.
Another southpaw Shalin de Mel (466) has six half centuries under his belt at a phenomenal strike rate of 92. All rounder Dilmin Rathnayake (456) missed out a century by four runs against St. Benedict’s.
Sri Lanka Youth international Ravindu Rasantha de Silva returns to spearhead the Thomian batting having topped the batting charts for Sri Lanka at the Under 19 World Cup scoring286 runs in six games at an average of 71.5. Ravindu hit a blistering century against Nigeria followed it up with a lone effort against England in the Plate finals scoring 66 runs against England.
The bowling spearheads for Royal will be spin twins Gishan Balasuriya and Prashan Kalhara who have taken over 100 wickets between them this season. Off spinner Balasuriya has struck consistently to claim 61 wickets so far including four five-wicket hauls with a best of 5/13 against De Mazenod. Left arm leg spinner Kalhara who has blossomed into a fine all-rounder hitting two half centuries in 88 against D.S. Senanayake has claimed 54 wickets including a best of 6/23 against Isipathana for a match bag of 12/53. The pace spearheads are all rounder Kavindu Pathiratne and Lahiru Madusanka.
All-rounder Dilmin Rathnayake and Sri Lanka Youth international Yasiru Rodrigo are the main bowling spearheads for the Thomians.
Leg spinner Rathnayake has been their highest wicket taker claiming 64 wickets with a best of 6 for 37 against Dharmapala while 16-year-old left arm pacer Rodrigo has snared 38 wickets with a best of 87 for 40 against St. Benedict’s.
Skipper Eriyagama has also claimed 26 wickets with a best of 5 for 19 against Moratu MV while Randiv Goonesekera claimed 5 for 17 against Dharmapala.
| History | |
| The Royal-Thomian annual school boy cricket encounter has been played uninterruptedly from 1880. The Eton versus Harrow in England commenced earlier but was interrupted durng the two world wars – the first between 1914-19118 and the second 1939-1945. The oldest uninterrupted game on inter school cricket in the world is the match between Prince Alfred College and St. Peter’s College, two leading schools in Adelaide, South Australia, which is being played since 1978.In 1880, the first match in which only the boys took part was played on Galle Face Green, the present location of the Taj Samudra Hotel. This was the start to the centenary series. Both teams are said to have rowed their boats across Beira Lake to play the match.The playing fields of the ‘Roy – Tho’ has the distinction of producing cricketers who later became eminent heads of state, with St. Thomas’ producing the father of the nation, Rt. Hon. D.S. Senanayake MP (1901-1902) and his son, Hon. Dudley Senanayake MP (1927-1929) as Prime Ministers of Ceylon, while Royal, produced Rt. Hon. (General) Sir John Kotelawala MP (1914-1915) as Prime Minister and the first Executive President of Sri Lanka, the late J. R. Jayewardene (1925).
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| Head to head | |
| The tally between the two schools at present stands at 35 all, with the highly-debated match in 1885, where Royal College was all out for 09 runs with no play on the second day is considered a win by S. Thomas’ and considered a draw by Royal as shown by the respective souvenir books of the two schools. The Shield at present sits as the crown jewel amongst the silverware in the Warden’s trophy cabinet at S. Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia, after putting up a superb performance in 2019 under the captaincy of Sithara Hapuhinna, which will be challenged by a determined Royal XI, this year. The boys from Reid Avenue last won the coveted shield under the stewardship of Geeshanth Panditharatne in 2016. |
| Records | |
Royal College
S. Thomas’ College
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| Conditions | |
| There is likely to plenty of movement at the SSC for the first two hours on the opening day of the match but it is likely to pan out into a perfect batting surface thereafter. |
| Prediction | |
| Either way a decision is likely with both teams eager to play positive cricket, a high-scoring game is on the cards. Royal have a well-balanced side and are highly motivated to pull off a victory. |
Royal College Team
Royal Cricket Squad: Thevindu Senaratne (Captain), Manula Perera, Kavindu Madarasinghe, Ahan Sanchitha Wickremasinghe, Kamil Mishara, Isiwara Dissanayake, Kavindu Pathirathne, Tithira Weerasinghe, Gishan Balasuriya, Kaushan Kulasuriya, Lahiru Madusanka, Prashan Kalhara, Sehan Herath, Dasis Manchanayaka, Harindu Palihawadana, Sonal Amarasekara, Sadisha Rajapakshe, Sineth Jayawardana Head Coach: Jehan Mubarak
S. Thomas’ College Team
S. Thomas’ Cricket Squad: Thevin Eriyagama (Captain), Ryan Fernando, Maneesha Rupasinghe, Umayanga Suwaris, Gavin Botheju, Shalin de Mel, Dilmin Rathnayake, Kishan Munasinghe, Yasiru Rodrigo, Deon Fernando, Shamilka Wickramathilake, Anuk Palihawadena, G. Caniston, Romesh Mendis, Dhiren de Silva, Thenuka Liyanage, Mishaq, Randiv Goonesekera, Ravindu Rasantha de Silva Head Coach: Dinesh Kumarasinghe