The godfather of all big matches the “Battle of the Blues”, the oldest ever big match in Sri Lanka and also the second oldest in the world will be worked off for the 131^st time on the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th of this month. This year the new Tigo and international telecom giant Etisalat, has come forward to be the exclusive sponsor of this legendry event.

The Royal Thomian is considered to be one of the most looked forward to sporting events in the country along with the other big matches. It is given more prominence when compared to other big matches is simply because of the reputation it carries and has carries for over 130 years. The Roy-Tho which is played by two great schools which even World War I and II could not stop the progress of despite all the vehemence, a game of cricket which is the second oldest in the World, a game that is older than the Ashes series between Australia and England, is certainly a distinctive one.

Not only is the Royal-Thomian a sporting event but to many it’s a social galore. Thepapare caught up with an ardent old boy of Royal College to get his thought on the Battle of the Blue. “The Royalists were cocky and gave away the last year’s big match. It’s a mistake which won’t happen again. I’m sure the boys have realized that. They will no doubt come out to beat the Thomians who are struggling in the current season with only a few performing well, so all the best Royal”.

We also spoke to an old Thomian to get his views on the big match. “The Royal Thomian is like no other. We have been playing for over130 year and have a lot of history. Though this time the Thomians do not have the best of teams, I hope they come out there and display true Thomian grit.”

The Royal-Thomian was the breeding ground for many national players in the 70’s and the 80’s until the Maroon took over. Both these schools have produced some exceptional players who have gone on to represent the national team. Thomian Captains Michael Tissera and Duleep Mendis captained Sri Lanka to record the first unofficial Test Victory in 1964 against Pakistan and then went on to record the first official Test victory in 1985 against India, respectively. That memorable first ever victorious All-Ceylon team of 1964 included one Royalist Darrel Lieversz and seven Thomians, Michael Tissera, Trevlyn Edwards, Dr. Buddy Reid, Mano Ponniah, Ian Pieris, Neil Chanmugam and 12th man Dr. Lareef Idroos. 

During the 131 years of grand cricketing by these two great institutions as many as fourteen Royalist and Thomians have played for Sri Lanka in official Tests and/or one-day Internationals since 1982, the year Sri Lanka played its first official Test match. Sri Lanka Captain Ranjan Madugalle, Jayantha Amerasinghe, Ashantha de Mel, Rohan Jayasekera, Roshan Jurangpathy and Jehan Mubarak, are the Royalists and Duleep Mendis, Saliya Ahangama, Guy de Alwis, Ishak Sahabdeen, Kapila Wijegunawardene, Kausheek Amalean, Nisal Fernando and Aruna Gunewardene are the Thomians. Sahabdeen also captained the Sri Lanka hockey team in 1989.

The top body, which governs the game of cricket around the world, the International Cricket Council has Royalist Ranjan Madugalle as the Chief Match Referee of the Test and One-day International Panel of Referees.

He refereed continuous World Cup final matches in 1999 and 2003. Former Sri Lanka poolist and Thomian all-rounder Jerome Lee Jayaratne was earlier the Project Officer for coaching, education and development at the ICC. Also, Duleep Mendis is the Chairman of the Asian Cricket Council Development Committee, and the Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lanka Cricket - the successor to the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka.

The future of these schools looks to be heading the right way with a lot of players going on to represent the under 19 and Sri Lanka ‘A’ teams. During the last decade only Royal College2001 skipper Jehan Mubarak represented the national team. The other’s who have been in the fringes are, Sri Lanka ‘A’ team skipper and 2004 Thomian captain and wicket keeper Kaushal Silva, Sri Lanka ‘A’ team player Jivan Mendis, Division one batsman Nisham Mazahir, SSC batsman and 2006 skipper Naveen Perera from STC. And from Royal, Sri Lankan under 19 youth vice captain and current Royal College skipper Banuka Rajapakse, Sri Lanka youth player and current player Kithruwan Withanage.

Forty one Royalist and Thomians have scored tons in the Royal-Thomian and 19 of them have been from the bat of Royalists while the other 22 have been from the bat of Thomians. The highest scorer for the Royalist is Sumithra 'Charlie' Warnakulasuriya who scored a marathon 197. This innings took his a full four and a half sessions spread over two days. This is still the highest score for a 3-day match. The record for the two day encounter for the most number of runs is held by former national test captain Duleep Mendis. Royalist Neil Joseph (in 1925 & 1926) and Thomians Duleep Mendis (in 1971 & 1972) and his nephew Manoj Mendis (in 1992 & 1993) have each scored centuries twice in the series.

This year however the Royalists will come in to the game to win it, and they would not want to commit the same mistake they made last year. Thomians though being tagged as the underdogs, showed a lot of courage last time around, but we will have to wait and see if Thomian grit will prevail yet again. A lot is at stake and a lot is expected to be delivered by both camps. The players will have to come out and show what their really capable of on the 11^th, 12th and 13^th of March. Only the strong will survive. The Royalist will want to regain the trophy after losing it in 2007 and the Thomians will want to retain it after fighting hard to keep the trophy on the shelves of Mount Lavinia last year.

All the hard work has been done, and it will be up to the 22 in the middle to determine the outcome of the match.