Royal College won the 134th 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 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.
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