141st Battle of the Blues ‘Play for a Cause’ endures its pledge to support four deserving schools
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(Seated from left): Mahesh Nanayakkara (Co-Chair, Royal-Thomian Match Organising Committee), Asanka Perera (Sub Warden, S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia), Navin Peiris (Vice President - Enterprise Business and Large Enterprise Sales, Dialog Axiata PLC), MAM Riyaz (Asst. Principal, Royal College, Colombo) and Prasanna Fernando (Co-Chair, Royal-Thomian Match Organising Committee) (Standing from left): Royal-Thomian Match Organising Committee Members – Zulki Hamid, Anura Prashantha, Roshan Adams, Kumudu Warnakulasooriya and ArunaShantha with the young cricketers from the four benefitting schools and Thevindu Senaratane (Captain of Royal College) and Manisha Rupasinghe (Vice Captain of S. Thomas’ College)
‘Play for a Cause’, the annual sustainability project of the ‘Battle of the Blues’, the annual cricket encounter between Royal College, Colombo, and S. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia, as tradition would gift cricket equipment to four deserving schools that are deficient in cricket equipment.
Girithalegama Maha Vidyalaya – Giritale, Sri Rathanajothi Vidyayathana – Pirivena, Trincomalee, Menikdiwela Central College – Menikdiwela, and Harishchandra College – Negombo were selected as the worthy beneficiaries by the Royal-Thomian Cricket Joint Match Organising Committee under the aegis of the Principal of Royal College, Colombo, B.A. Abeyrathna and Warden of S. Thomas’, College, Mt. Lavinia, Rev. Marc Billimoria.
In 2015, on the 136th edition of the Royal-Thomian, Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC rekindled a long and successful partnership with Sri Lanka’s Blue-Ribbon Big Match, the Battle of the Blues, and made a pledge to contribute 1,000 rupees for every run scored and 10,000 rupees for every wicket that fell during the match.
This year’s exciting encounter contributed 1,008,000 rupees to the ‘Play for a Cause’ pledge. Since the inception of the ‘Play for a Cause’ pledge, inclusive of the 141st Battle of the Blues, 6,151,000 rupees worth of cricket gear was donated to 22 deserving schools.
The ‘Battle of the Blues’ is one of the most celebrated school-level sports encounters in Sri Lanka and has a rich and colourful history and tradition spanning 141 years. It is also distinguished for holding the honour of being the second longest uninterrupted cricket series played in the world, second only to the annual encounter played between St. Peter’s College, Adelaide and Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, Australia, which began just a year earlier.