A rampaging Royal College top six and a lethal bowling combination from S. Thomas’ College will set alight the Sinhalese Sports Club Grounds at the 139th Battle of the Blues which is set to commence on the 9th of March 2018.
2017/18 Season
Relegated to the ‘B’ Division, Royal College has had a relatively good season with six outright wins, two 1st innings wins and one loss from their 20 matches. However, from their six wins only two have come against the 12 ‘A’ Division sides they played as traditional matches; against Dharmaraja College & Wesley College.
After a rude awakening at the hands of St. John’s College Jaffna early in the season Royal has performed exceptionally well in their group but has been unable to register a 1st innings win against the more renowned ‘A’ Division opponents apart from the two aforementioned ones.
S. Thomas’ College too has registered six outright wins and eight 1st innings wins from their 18 matches, though playing in the top division. The wins have come at the expense of Dharmapala, Zahira, Maliyadeva, Prince of Wales’, Nalanda & Lumbini.
In the lead up to the Big Match, Royal College has been the team in-form with three wins and one 1st innings win while S. Thomas’ has suffered all of their four 1st innings losses in their final 7 matches.
Key Players
Royal has 6 players who have scored over 600 runs and their batting will revolve around skipper Pasindu Sooriyabandara who has amassed 1224 runs during the season at an average of 48.96 with 10 half centuries and 2 centuries.
Kavindu Madarasinghe too has scored over 700 runs. Bhagya Dissanayake will have the added pressure of representing Royal after his switch from S. Thomas’ this season.
Freshers Kamil Mishara and Gayan Dissanayake, with their all-round ability will need to play a key role for Royal while Thevindu Senarathne’s belligerent hitting can take the game away from the Thomians like it did last year.
Manula Perera with over 80 and Mishara with 53 wickets will carry the bulk of the bowling responsibility for the Royalists while the likes of Dimal Wijesekara, Gayan Dissanayake and Themal Bandara will need to step-up come the big game.
The ability to bat deep will be one of the key strengths of S. Thomas’ with 9 of their batsman averaging over 20. Fresher Maneesha Rupasinghe and 2nd year coloursman Manthila Wijerathna have around 600 runs while they will look to the hard hitting Sithara Hapuhinna to give the innings a boost.
Thomians will hope the left arm spin trio of skipper Dellon Peiris, Shannon Fernando and Pavith Rathnayake will clean things up after Sri Lanka U19 cap Kalana Perera does the early damage.
S. Thomas’ have done well during the season even without their main strike bowler in Perera but the big disappointment has been the astonishing dip in performance of Rathnayake. He took 98 wickets last season but has only been able to take 18 wickets in 9 matches this season and has been outshone by fresher Shannon Fernando.
Playing XI’s
Royal College – Pasindu Sooriyabandara (c) – Kavindu Madarasinghe (vc) – Thevindu Senarathne – Manula Perera – Gayan Dissanayake – Bhagya Dissanayake – Kamil Mishara – Themal Bandara – Lahiru Madusanka – Dimal Wijesekara – Kavindu Pathirathne
Photos: Royal College Cricket Team 2018 Preview
S. Thomas’ College – Dellon Peiris (c) – Dulith Gunarathne – Sithara Hapuhinna – Pavith Rathnayake – Manthila Wijerathne – Kalana Perera – Thevin Eriyagama – Maneesha Rupasinghe – Kishan Munasinghe – Shannon Fernando – Shalin De Mel
Photos: S. Thomas’ College Cricket Team 2018 Preview
Royal’s hopes of a win or a draw will depend heavily on their top six batsmen, but with a Royal nemesis, a Peiris at the helm, S. Thomas’ will fancy their chances of winning the Rt. Hon. D.S. Senanayake Shield after 11 years.
All the action from the 139th Battle of the Blues will be brought to you Live and Exclusively on ThePapare.com, Dialog Television Channel 1 and Dialog MyTV on the 9th, 10th & 11th of March from the SSC Grounds from 9.00am onwards.
Live score updates, match reports and photos will be available on each day of play on ThePapare.com.
Watch Live: Royal College vs S. Thomas’ College – 139th Battle of the Blues
