This year’s 143rd Battle of the Blues in July!
Sri Lanka’s longest-running and world’s only second-oldest big match between – Royal College and St. Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia – will be played only in July this year, in stark contrast to its usual period in the month of March, an authoritative source told the Sunday Times.
This year’s encounter, the 143rd Battle of the Blues, to be held in July at the SSC, outside the usual period, would be the second straight occasion the match is pushed to the second half of the year after last year’s match was in October.
The Sunday Times learns, because the parents of the royalists are unwilling to send their children for practices citing the ongoing Advance Level Exam finishing only on March 5, the game is slotted for July.
There is no window even to host it in between April-July, due to O/L’s falling after its senior version.
The source went on, to be fair by the royal camp; they have earmarked July to host, once the clash of times gives way.
Also, the source added the dates are subject to confirmation as the last year’s joint-committee’s tenure is coming to an end and only once the new committee is appointed, the rest would be finalised.
The Battle of the Blues, played for the D. S. Senanayake shield, finally went ahead in October, last year, subsequent to a multiple stop-start journey. The title-holders are currently the Thomians, when they regained it in 2018.