by Reemus Fernando  

Royal captained by Gishan Balasooriya and S. Thomas’ skippered by Sri Lanka Under 19 cap Ryan Fernando will meet in the 143rd Battle of the Blues Big Match starting at the SSC today.

The rich cricket tradition at the two schools will allow the First XI teams to engage in cricket at a time when sports has taken a back seat at many schools due to the current economic and political crisis. While the ministry of education has postponed commencing the school term again this week, the organizers of Zonal sports events of the Western Province are struggling to fix dates for them due to the uncertainty surrounding the reopening of schools.

Royal and S. Thomas’ were among few dozen schools in the country to have engaged in several traditional matches this year and some of the players who showed promise during these matches have secured their places in the teams for the annual encounter.

Players who did well 

Both schools were yet to announce their final teams for the Big Match when this edition went to press, hence we take a look at some of the leading performers of the two teams.

Leading the batting charts of both schools is Ryan Fernando who has scored two double centuries. He has scored over 800 runs with the last of his big knocks coming in the three-day encounter against Ananda at the SSC. Aneesh Kamalachandra who was doubtful for the annual Big Match until the eleventh hour due to an injury and top order batsman Senadhi Bulankulama were the batsmen to make contributions of note during recent matches for the Thomians.

Charuka Peiris who also excelled with the bat (one half century) and speedster Caniston Gunaratnam are the leading wicket takers for the team from Mount Lavinia.

Gishan Balasooriya will have Sri Lanka Under 19 player Sadeesha Rajapaksa helping him in both the batting and bowling departments. Rajapaksa came up with some impressive bowling performances against St. Sebastian’s (5 wickets) and Nalanda (6 wickets) and it would be an added advantage if he could come up with such feats to back the likes of Dan Poddiwela and Bulan Weeratunga.

Sineth Jayawardena, Ramiru Perera and Uvindu Weerasekara made vital contributions with the bat during the few matches for Royal.

S. Thomas’ College team 

Seated from left: Senesh Hettiarachchi, Mahith Perera, Ryan Fernando, Caniston Gunaratnam, Romesh Mendis, Nathan Caldera.   

Standing from left (first row): Darin Deago, Manula Pahan, Ashen  Perera, Muiz Naushan, Dhiren de Silva, Aneesh Kamalachandra, Enoshan Devachandra, Janidu Abeygoonawardena, Arith Adhikaram. Standing from left (second row): Charuka Peiris, Devin Jayasuriya, Dineth Gunawardena, Thisen Ehaliyagoda, Kavindu Dias, Akash Fernando, Senadhi Bulankulame.