U-19 Cricket: Royal look to repeat; Thomians seek revenge at 138th Battle of the Blues

The Royal-Thomian will always be special. 

From the very inception it has been the trend setter and the rest have followed. 

Arguably it is the root of the ‘cricket trend’ that has been entrenched deeply in the hearts of school cricket and its cricketers. 

This year there is no difference. 

The game is bound to be another clock stopper. 

Just walk past the Sinhalese Sports Club ground next Thursday (9) morning, you will know what we mean. 

It’s deemed the second oldest inter-school cricket encounter after St. Peter’s College and Prince Alfred College in Adelaide, Australia which began in 1878 also has the honour of staving off two World Wars which did not prevent from this game being played. 

Not only the present boys that is a part of this event. 

Old and young of both schools along with those domiciled in various countries will be there to mark the event when the two institutions take on each other for the 138th instalment of the series scheduled to be played on March 9, 10 and 11 at the SSC ground. 

This time out the encounter will see Royal led by Helitha Vithanage looking for a repeat of their win last year while the Thomians steered by Romesh Nallaperuma will be looking out for a tit-for-tat of last year. 

The performances of the two teams this season points in favour of the Thomians who are coming into the game as favourites, but in a match of this nature the underdogs have prevailed and Royal could spring a surprise and are capable of upsetting the apple cart. 

Added, the Thomians are coming into the game with an unbeaten record having recorded five outright wins from the 18 matches. 

Royal from the same number of matches played has not been able to record an outright win but has undergone one outright defeat to Prince of Wales. 

The five outright wins recorded by the Thomians were against Dharmapala, Dharmasoka MV Ambalangoda, Anuradhapura Central, St. Sylvester’s and Trinity which was a morale booster just before the big one. 

The Royal batting this season has been in the hands of skipper Vithanage who is just 29 runs away from reaching the magical 1000 runs and being the top scorer of the side with 971 runs, he has scored three tons and three half tons. 

The young fresher Kavindu Madarasinghe has had a successful season this year having scored a ton and six half tons whilst accumulating over 900 runs and will be one that the Thomian bowlers will have to watch. 

Skipper Vithanage has three other batsmen Himesh Ramanayake, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Ronuka Jayawardena and Ganith Sandeepa who he can depend on to bolster the scoreboard. 

Himesh Ramanayake, the son of former Sri Lanka bowler Champaka Ramanayake has scored over 750 runs inclusive of a boundary and two half tons. 

Ronuka has made over 550 runs, Pasindu over 650 runs with a boundary and four half tons and Ganith over 550 runs. 

The bowling will be spearheaded by Himesh and Ganith who together have taken over 70 wickets between them with skipper Vithanage and fresher Manula Perera’s support being expected to curtail the Thomian batting. 

Thomians skipper Nallaperuma will bank on Ravindu Kodituwakku and Manthila Wijeratne who both have been in form this season. 

Ravindu has over 800 runs to his credit with a ton and four half tons while Manthila has over 650 runs and with the skipper also making over 650 runs the trio will have to lead from the front for others to gain the confidence. 

There are two centurions in the side in Dinura Gunawardena and Ishen Perera who both have made over 400 runs and the duo along with Sithara Hapuhinna and Dellon Peiris will be the backbone for the Thomians to put up a formidable score. 

Left arm spinner Pavith Ratnayake who is just six wickets away from taking 100 wickets will lead the Thomian attack. 

Pavith has a best of 7 for 47 against Dharmapala and he has a good partner in Dellon Peiris who also has top figures of 7 for 44. 

The Thomian skipper would no doubt be depending on the duo and support will be expected from make shift bowlers Kalana Perera, Dinura Gunawardena and Ravindu Kodituwakku. 

The tally in the series is 35 for Royal after their win last year coming out winners under the leadership of Geeshath Panditharatne. 

The Thomians have won 34 times and their last win was led by Ashan Peiris. 

The two teams have some records to be surpassed with Royal’s Sumithra Warnakulasuriya being the highest individual scorer with 197, which he made in 1980. 

Duleep Mendis holds the Thomian record of 184 made in 1972. 

The partnership of 254 runs for the third wicket between Anushka Polonnowita and Yasas Dharmaratne made in 1996 stands as the best for any wicket in the series. 

Royal holds the record of the best score of the series which is 432 for 9 declared achieved in 2006 eclipsing the best of 388 for 9 held by the Thomians. 

The plum is the D.S. Senanayake memorial shield and the match is sponsored by Dialog Axiata. 

Royal College squad: Helitha Vithanage (Capt), Himesh Ratnayake, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Ronuka Jayawardene, Ganith Sandeepa, Kevindu Senaratne, Manula Perera, Krishigan Raveendranathan, Lakindu Nanayakkara, Gayan Dissanayake, Chamaka Edirisinghe, Abhishek Perera, Gothama Ranasinghe, Ahan Wickramasinghe, Yuvin Herath, Kushan Gunaratne, Kavindu Madarasinghe; Suranga Wijenayake (Caoch). 

S. Thomas' College squad: Romesh Nallaperuma (Capt), Ravindu Kodituwakku, Dinura Gunawardena, Bhathiya Dissanayake, Anuka Bulankulama, Dulip Gunaratne, Ishen Perera, Manthila Wijeratne, Sithara Hapuhinna (wk), Kalana Perera, Trevin Iriyagama, Tehan Schaffter, Mohamed Ishaq, Shalin de Mel, Dellon Peiris, Pavith Ratnayake, Dineth Kannangara; Dinesh Kumarasinghe (Coach).