A well-deserved win for Royal at the 144th Battle of the Blues

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Royal College won the 144th Battle of the Blues, after recording a commanding 181-run win over S. Thomas’ College last weekend at the SSC grounds. The win comes with a few records being created by Royal skipper Dasis Manchanayake, who became the first to lead his side while scoring a century and a half century in the same match.

Manchanayake also became the sixth skipper from the Reid Avenue School to score a century, that too after a lapse of 27 years. He joined the fleet of Royal skippers F.C. de Saram (1931/140), S.G. Salgadu (1942/112), M. Wille (1957/121), C.J. Fernando (1971/160) and Anushka Polonowita (1996/165) with his electric knock of 137, which came off 150 deliveries and included 17 boundaries. Manchanayake went beyond his five predecessors by scoring a blistering 57 off 49 deliveries with six fours on Friday, enabling his team to hand over a challenging target of 342 runs to the Thomians.

The win enabled Royal to regain the D.S. Senanayake Memorial Shield since they marched to a stunning 4-wicket win under the captaincy of Geeshath Panditharatne in 2016. Seven years later Manchanayake takes the rare honour in leading his side with a few records bestowed on him.

Manchanayake deservingly won the Player of the Match awards while his team-mate Ramiru Perera, who scored 128 and 46 not out, was adjudged the Best Batsman. Royalist Uvindu Weerasekara was named the Best Fielder while Akash Fernando of S. Thomas’, was named the Best Bowler for his match bag of eight wickets.