Royal College Won the 134th Royal Thomian Big Match

Updated:  Royal Won - Click

Royal College won the 134^th Big Match 2013 beating St.Thomas College by 7 wickets. Man of the Match : Chamika Karunaratne(RC)

Royal College, Colombo won the 134th Battle of the Blues three-day cricket encounter after seven years beating their traditional rivals St.Thomas College, Mount Lavinia by 7 wickets short while ago at the SSC grounds, Colombo.

Royal last won in 2006 under Nadun Punchihewa and they are determined to win this year's encounter to level the series, considered the oldest and the uninterrupted inter-school cricket series in the world which began way back in 1880.

The Reid Avenue boys are determined to put an end to five successive drawn games in the series after they suffered an innings defeat at the hands of Ashan Peiris’ Thomians in 2007.

RC 2nd Innings 67/3
STC 2nd Innings 132 All Out
Royal College 1st Innings 260/5 in 63 Overs 
St. Tomas College 1st Innings - 192 All Out in 73 Overs

D.Jayasinghe 74

Royal won the toss and elected to field Thomian

Highlights

The lads from Cinnamon Gardens remain unbeaten this season, winning four matches outright - against Isipatana, St. Anthony’s Katugastota, Dharmaraja and Thurstan.

Royal, in its proud and rich cricket history, has produced some top cricketers who had played for Sri Lanka with distinction.

Heading that galaxy of world class players is former Royal, NCC and Sri Lanka captain Ranjan Madugalle, now the Chief ICC Match Referee.

He led Royal in the 100th Battle of the Blues encounter. The longest unbeaten run by the Reid Avenue boys in the series was from 1965 to 1987. During the 23-year period without a single big match defeat, Royal emerged victorious on two occasions (1969 and 1983) while the rest of the 21 games were drawn.

Royal's last back-to-back victories in the series were recorded in 1990 and 1991 under Udaya Lakmal Wijesena and Rohan Irriyagolla respectively.

Royal's top order bat Sumithra Warnakulasuriya’s marathon knock of 197 in 1980 has remained the highest individual innings in the series.

Besides Warnakulasuriya, the only other Royalist to score a ‘big match century’ on debut was Jagath Pattiarachchi, who made 100 not out in 1974.

Royal also holds the series record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket - 254 runs for the third wicket between Anushka Polonowita (164) and Yasas Dharmarathne (124) in 1996.

Nigel Fernando is the youngest ever Royal captain in the series.He was only six days short of his 17th birthday when he led the Reid Avenue school in 1989.

In 1983, Royal's Rochana Jayawardene probably produced the best allround effort, stroking an unbeaten 145 not out and capturing 5 for 29 and 4 for 44 (which gave him a match haul of 9 for 73).

In 1930, Barney Gunasekera of Royal too, had an impressive match analysis a top score of 148 and 7 for 57. The highest total recorded by Royal is 432 for 7 declared in 2006.

Of the 132 encounters played todate, S.Thomas’ takes a slight lead with 34 wins to Royal's 33 with the rest drawn.

Royal last won the big match in 2006 under the leadership of Nadun Punchihewa.

The 134th Battle of Blues Big Match cricket encounter between Royal College and S. Thomas’ College will take place at the Sinhalese Sports Club SSC ground today.

 The Battle of the Blues over 133 years old , played by two great schools which even World War I and II could not halt despite all the fury, a game of cricket which is the second oldest in the World, a game that is older than the Ashes series between Australia and England, is indeed unique.

In Ceylon of the years gone by and Sri Lanka today, the Royal - Thomian cricket match is a undeclared holiday for the young and old of both schools. One cannot forget the fairer sex who has continued to add glamour to the event, irrespective of age.

Many great Prime Ministers, a former President, Ministers and leading citizens of the land in many fields have represented both schools in the Big Match. There have been many cricketers representing Ceylon and Sri Lanka from both schools with distinction. Some have captained the National Team with much acceptance. Thomians and Royalist young and old continue to share the friendly rivalry each year and have also continued to uphold the greatest traditions.