Royal favourites at the 146th Battle of the Blues 

by Reemus Fernando 

Equiped with a strong batting lineup and a formidable bowling unit Royal are the firm favourites when they meet arch rivals S. Thomas’ in the historic 146th Battle of the Blues starting at the SSC ground today.

In the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ cricket  quarter-final, which served as a virtual dress rehearsal for this encounter, pitting the two rivals against each other for the first time outside the Battle of the Blues, Royal proved beyond doubt that they were the stronger team as they restricted the Thomians to 120 runs in the first innings.

Royal’s strength is their batting this season. Their strong line up inclusive of two Sri Lanka Under 19 players has topped the 300 runs mark on five occasions. Former St. Sebastian’s batsman Vimath Dinsara who has scored over 700 runs, skipper Ramiru Perera (over 600 runs), deputy skipper Rehan Peiris (over 600 runs), wicketkeeper batsman Isula Geeganage (over 400 runs), Thevindu Wewalwala (over 400  runs), Yasindu Dissanayake and open batsman Hirun Liyanarachchi form the batting lineup. Liyanarachchi hasn’t impressed much this season, except in the matches against Gurukula (34, 33), Maliyadewa (5, 71), Trinity (26, 34) and Prince of Wales (47) and he needs to come up with his best if Royal are to set up a strong base. He will open batting with Rehan Peiris.

Royal are fielding three pacemen. They had Ranuka Malaviarachchi and left-arm paceman Kuchila Ranmadala doing new ball duties throughout the season. In the quarter-final match against S. Thomas’, they found young Sehandu Sooriyaarachchi as effective as his senior counterparts. With two five wicket hauls in three matches he has booked his Big Match ticket.

Left-arm spinner Sandul Abeywardena is expected to play a lead role in the spin department. He played only in seven matches but was able to make an impact taking a match bag of ten wickets in the crucial encounter against Maris Stella. His performance in the ten wicket victory helped Royal secure a quarter-final berth. Thevindu Wewalwala and Ramiru are the other spinners.

Royal played 13 matches this season, won one match and suffered a solitary defeat (by an innings and eight runs) at the hands of St. Sebastian’s.

S. Thomas’ skippered by paceman Kavindu Dias are heavily relying on Dineth Goonewardene and wicketkeeper batsman Avinash Fernando in the batting department. Goonewardene has maintained an average above 40 runs, while all others have averages below 28. The Thomians seem to have found some solace late in the season with Mithila Charles striking form with a century against Ananda. But their dark horse is former St. Peter’s Under 15 player Reshon Solomon who featured only in two friendly matches. The Thomian authorities did not field Solomon this season as they had not registered the batsman under their name at Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association. The rest of the Thomian batting line up includes Sadew Soysa, Jaden Amaraweera and Sachitha Gunasinghe.

In the bowing attack Dias is set to share the new ball with Ayman Anzary, while left-armer Aaron de Silva takes major share of responsibilities in spin bowling. His work load has been doubled after Thomian selectors decided to go with a single left-arm spinner. While Aaron had a tally of 49 wickets in 13 matches, experienced left-arm spinner Abheeth Paranawidana had 39 in ten matches. Both played equally impressive performances in their only victory of the season over St. Anthony’s Katugastota. However Paranawidana has not found a place in the playing XI. Darien Diego is the other specialist spinner in the team. The Thomians’ performances this season look similar to their opponents as they have one win against one defeat but the prowess in the batting department give Royal the edge.

Trivia 

Dinsara and 122 runs

Sri Lanka Under 19 player Vimath Dinsara has scored three centuries for Royal this season. On all three occasions the former St. Sebastian’s Moratuwa player was either out on 122 or was unbeaten on 122.

Over 300 runs

Royal have scored over 300 runs on five occasions this season, while S. Thomas did that on two occasions.