129th Battle of the Blues:

Royal out to give their best shot

Dinesh Weerawansa

Royal College, Colombo, with several all-rounders in their side, are determined to produce their best performance for the season when they take on traditional rivals S.Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia in their 129th Battle of the Blues three-day cricket encounter which starts at the SSC grounds, Maitland Place on Thursday.

The Royal top order is packed with all-rounders and if they make full use of that advantage in the bowling department too, they could well capitalise in the big 'un. Leading Royal this year will be third-year-coloursman Dilan Nanayakkara, who has proved his all-round qualities.

As a right-hand middle order batsman, he has aggregated nearly 500 runs this season. Apart from his feats with the willow, Nanayakkara has also excelled as a right-arm off spinner and a safe fielder.

Vice captain Charith Fernando is worth watching. The third-year-coloursman is a talented batsman who is capable of taming any bowler in the schools this season. He is also a useful medium paceman who could trouble any batsman. Nanayakkara and Fernando would add much needed stability to Royal batting. Even then, their top order is packed with all-rounders, who could hold the key to this all-important game.

Presence of last year's captain Haroon Mowjood would give tremendous confidence to skipper Nanayakkara and his boys.

Mowjood, a right-arm leg spinner who is playing in his fourth successive year, is the most dangerous weapon in the Royal bowling armoury with nearly 60 scalps to his credit. He is an experienced campaigner, having represented Sri Lanka Under-17 and Sri Lanka Under-19 during the past three years.

Mowjood is also a useful batsman who has scored over 200 runs. Fresher Sahan Hettiararchchi and opener Banuka Rajapaksa will have to shoulder a major portion of Royal's batting.

The duo has shared over 1,100 runs between them this season and the Reid Avenue boys would once again let their willows speak this time around. Left-hand top order bat Hettiarachchi has scored nearly 600 runs this season while second-year-coloursman Rajapaksa has 700 runs to his credit.

Besides Hettiarachchi, Rajapaksa, skipper Nanayakkara and deputy Fernando, Kusal Perera and Lochana Premaratne too are capable of making lavish contributions towards Royal total. The Reid Avenue boys have played 14 matches this season to register two wins against Richmond College and Ananda Sastralaya, Kotte.

Though they have not been impressive early in their third term matches, the team has shown a vast improvement in the latter stages in their lead-up to the big match. Royal coach Chulaka Amarasinghe would undoubtedly prefer to go as the underdogs.

On many occasions in the recent history of the Battle of the Blues series, Royal have come from behind to dictate terms to their traditional rivals. Hence, former Royal captain Amarasinghe would like to see his boys starting from zero and climbing up when it matters the most.

Royal's last win in the series was in 2006.

They did not have on outstanding track record when they walked into that year's big match. But they produced their best effort for the season to taste a sweet seven-wicket victory at the end. But Royal ate humble pie at last year's encounter as they suffered a humiliating innings and 44-run defeat inside two days and 95 minutes of play.

With decisions in the past two encounters, it's Royal's turn to pull off a surprise win to level the series, which began way back in 1879. It was Ranjan Madugalle who led Royal at the centenary encounter in 1979.

Madugalle, who went on to captain the Sri Lanka Test team, is currently the Chief Match Referee of the International Cricket Council. On paper, the current Royal team looks a well-balanced one with several all-rounders who would add more weight to their final X1. Their squad has not less than ten coloursmen which speaks volumes of the experience the Reid Avenue boys are blessed with.

Former Sri Lanka Board X1 player Sumithra Warnakulasuriya (Royal) holds the record for the highest individual innings in the series for his marathon 197 runs made in 1980. Royal also accounts for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in the series.

This was established in 1996 when Anushka Polonnowita (164) and Yasas Dharmarathne (124) shared 254 runs for the third wicket.

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Sampath Official Banker for 129th Royal-Thomian

The 129th Battle of the Blues Cricket match between Royal and S.Thomas' will be played at the SSC grounds on March 13, 14 & 15. This is an event which attracts large crowds both young and old from all disciplines, irrespective of positions, cast, creed, religions.

Although the main event is centered round cricket, yet it is an enjoyable meeting place for past school mates, class mates, teachers, friends and relations.

Therefore, it is a much sought after event held annually. People not only within the country, but residing in overseas who are old boys of the two schools also patronise this number one event in the country.

Sampath Bank is pleased to be the 'Official Banker' for this grand event. With the sponsorship, bank offers its patrons on-line and on-site ticket sales while maintaining a mobile banking unit at the grounds. Further, on-site ATM will be available enabling the spectators to withdraw cash from other banks as well.