S. Thomas’, St. Benedict’s to fight for Ranjit Fernando-Kumar Boralessa trophy

by Reemus Fernando

The traditional Under 19 cricket encounter between S. Thomas’ College and St. Benedict’s College will be played for the Ranjit Fernando- Kumar Boralessa trophy for the first time. The Ranjit Fernando- Kumar Boralessa trophy had been mooted by S. Thomas’ College warden Rev. Marc Billimoria to honour the distinguished wicketkeeper batsmen produced by the two schools and to inspire the present cricketers of the two schools.

Incidentally, when the two schools meet today and tomorrow the match has special significance as it will also be a crucial tournament match in the ongoing Division I Tier ‘A’ tournament.

The Thomians captained by Kavindu Dias will have a slight edge over St. Benedict’s. It is the penultimate match in the tournament for the Thomians. Currently they are ranked fourth in the points table behind Mahanama, St. Joseph’s and St. Anthony’s Katugastota. While other teams have three or more matches remaining in the tournament, the Thomians have only one match after the Bens encounter. They need to remain in the same position or improve the rankings if they are to secure a place in the knockout stage.

After having suffered two outright defeats St. Benedict’s are struggling in the eight position in the nine-team group. The team heavily depend on Sri Lanka Under 19 batsman Sharujan Shanmuganathan in the batting department. He was the only batsman to show resistance against St. Anthony’s at the last encounter. They suffered a heavy innings defeat despite a century and a half century by Shanmuganathan in the year end encounter.

According to S. Thomas’ officials, the two schools have played against each other since 1912-1913 season.

According to statistics provided by S. Thomas’ the Bens have not recorded a victory in this series after Sunil Fernando led team won the match in 1964. The Thomians last won under Mahith Perera in 2022.