By Reemus Fernando

Royal beat the odds to register a stunning 180 runs victory against their arch-rivals S. Thomas’ at the 144th Battle of the Blues at the SSC on Saturday. It was a victory no one saw coming as the outfit trained by Rohan Soysa entered the annual battle as underdogs.

Royal’s back-to-back defeats at the hands of Trinity in the run up to the historic encounter were overshadowing even the couple of victories they had registered during the season and the fact that they had reached the quarter-finals at the end of the league stage. Reaching the last eight of the tournament was something their arch-rivals had failed to achieve. S. Thomas’ on the other hand had remained unbeaten though they failed to reach the business end of the tournament.

Both teams had wanted to bowl first under overcast conditions on day one and the Thomians had the ideal start to the annual battle as they took the first three wickets for just 19 runs. That was when Dasis Manchanayake came to the crease. The new ball was just eight overs old when he started the repair job with Ovina Ambanpola. Despite the early damage, the Royalists stayed positive. “Manchanayake’s approach was decisive,” said Royal coach Rohan Soysa following the victory.

Manchanayake rewarded for staying positive in adversity After being four wickets down for 63 runs at one stage, Royal recovered to post 326 runs for eight wickets declared thanks to the record-breaking partnership put on by Manchanayake and Ramiru Perera. The stage for victory was built on that partnership as the pair put on 229 runs off 293 balls. In the process the pair broke a 70-year-old partnership record for the fifth wicket. Manchanayake stayed there for five hours as they disappointed Thomians during an entire second session.

There was no turning back for Royal from then on as they won all sessions.Few expected Royal to declare on their overnight score under clear skies on day two morning. By lunch they had accounted for four top-order batsmen in the Thomian innings except for opener Senadhi Bulankulame. By tea on day two Royal were in complete command as they dismissed their opponents for 153 runs and they needed just 26 overs in the final session to amass 168 runs for the loss of four wickets.

Manchanayake entered the Battle of the Blues record books as the only Royal captain to score a century and a half-century in a match. In history only two batsmen had done that (M. Thotiwilage 95 and 108 in 2001 and Ganganath Rathnayake 75 and 111n.o. in 2011). What was more remarkable was the fact that the rare achievement coincided with victory. Ramiru Perera too could have earned the rare achievement had not Royal declared their innings on the overnight score on day three morning. Perera was unbeaten on 46 runs.

Incidentally, of the players who batted, Royal had only three batsmen reaching double figures in the first innings. And in the second innings apart from Manchanayake and Perera, Uvindu Weerasekara was the only batsman to top 20 runs. Royal’s Sri Lanka Under 19 player Sineth Jayawardena (1 & 4) failed in both innings.

Royal and two other schools had received exemptions from Sri Lanka Cricket to field their Sri Lanka Under 19 players in the weekend’s Big Matches despite Sri Lanka Under 19 leaving for UAE for a tournament. As expected pacemen played a crucial role in the match. Ranuka Malaviarachchi, Bulan Weerathunga and Sandesh Ramanayake accounted for ten wickets in the match with the latter becoming the third brother of the Ramanayake family to associate with a Royal victory.