The 50th encounter of the Thurstan vs Isipathana Big match series is about to unfold in all grandeur on the 22nd and 23rd of March at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
50th Jubilee
Elaborate plans have been laid out to commemorate this event with old boys from both schools descending from all over the world to be a part of the many festivities arranged for the occasion.As a grand finale to the ‘Big Match’ season, the Thurstan v Isipathana series that used to commence proceedings was pushed back to the final weekend in order to give a perfect culmination.
The principals have been an integral part of this even and have declared a cricket season in between the two schools before the big-match. This season will include matches between from the teachers of the two schools, to non-staff members, to old boys and college prefects. It’s is organized in to build up the hype towards the grand 50th big match but the principals are more optimistic , expecting this to become a tradition that will continue from the Golden Jubilee match onwards.
Along with this immense organizing process, the finances are jointly sponsored by two of the leading corporate giants: Sri Lanka Telecom and Mobitel. Making official statements to ThePapare team even the sponsors are looking forward to collaborate throughout the event .
Patronage of His Excellency the President
Heralding the elaborate arrangements to stage their golden jubilee ‘Big Match’ the first ticket was sold to the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a distinguished Thurstanite at a recent dinner function at the Temple trees recently.
His Excellency will grace the occasion on 22nd Friday in the morning where bands of both schools will be in attendance. The College songs will be sung together with the national anthem and the hoisting of flags. A photograph will be taken with the President and both teams. Breaking new ground His Excellency will be called upon to toss with a coin especially minted for the occasion. Teams will then be introduced to him and a photograph taken with all past captains of the two teams. A student from each school will then present the souvenir.
Further, parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksha too will be present to add glamour to the historical happening
The cricket
The annual cricket encounter which dates back to 1964 commenced as a small inter-school match. Over these 49 years it has developed into a magnificent event where both schools gathered annually to celebrate their rich heritage of cricket. Since the first match captained byJeyraj Perera for Thurstan College and S. De Silva for Isipathana College the big match line up has left behind so many expressive moments. Regardless of the special situation in 1971, which caused the big match to fail due to unavoidable circumstances, the battle has always been a ritual celebrated between the two schools. In the 50thencounter,the tally stands at 05wins to Thurstan and 04 to Isipathana with the rest drawn.
A host of awards are also lined up for the event ‘Man of The Match’ , ’Best Batsman’ and the ‘Best Bowler’. They are the HARSHANA DEEPAL MEMORIYAL TROPHY, JAYANTHA PARANATHALA CHALLENGE TROPHY and the MAHANAMA WILAYARATNE CHALLENGE TROPHY respectively. HarshanaDeepalTrophy was donated by his family as he captained the Isipathana Team in 1980. As the first Isipathanaian to represent Sri Lanka -also captaining the Isipathana team in 1970- Jayanath Paranathala Trophy is awarded while MahanamaWilayaratne Trophy is to represent the first Thurstanite to tour abroad: National Schools Cricket Association Tour Australia in 1961.
Team Thurstan
Captain for Thurstan College,RanminduKumarasingha is a fourth year player and a promising left hand batsman. In his remarkable batting record he has a total of 986 runs with three centuries. Ranmindu is known to be a builder of partnerships; for example, the 3rd wicket partnershipvs Sri SumangalaVidyalaya was an outstanding 236 runs. With his batting experiencemuch is expected from him in this big match too. His deputy is Rajuth Perera who balances off the team with exemplary left- arm leg spin bowling. He boasts of a ten wicket haul against St. Anthony’s College Katugastota.
Thurstan College also has players with international experience. MinhalJaleel is a national player for Under 17 age category who had toured to India in 2012 and had scored over 750 runs in this cricket season so far. MinhalCharana Nanayakkara also is in the Under 17 national squad, and is predicted to have a long cricketing future. The openers ,Tharindu Silva and Avishka Peiris also add-weight to the batting with their ability to play long innings as shown against St. Joesphs College.
SahanWitharana ,a second year player will keep wickets while Thimira Jayasinghe, Pamod Gunawardane and SahanHewawitharana are key players who are expected to perform well in the field.
In conclusion, as the host of the event, Thusrtan College has a tremendous task in putting together this mega event but will keep a watchful-eye to grab victory of the 50th encounter.
The Isipathana Battalion
Taking on close victory vs President’s College recently, Isipathana side captained by Deshan Jayakumar is at a solid stance. The captain himself is an all-rounder with 16 wickets under his name with the bowling and almost 400 runs in batting in the season. Isipathana College holds many strong batsmen apart from the captain; MatheeshaRanaweera, Chenutha Wickramasinghe and SalindaUshan. Matheesha happens to be the wicket keeper for the team as well with an outstanding nine stumping.
In the bowling department they have in their ranks an effective wicket taker, Chameera Dissanayake who has taken an impressive 58 wickets within the 2012/2013 cricket season. His best performance being 5 wickets for 6 runs. Chameera has scored over 250 runs too in this season along with a half century.
With Chameera thebowling attack comprises of DilanPunchihewa, Kelum Bestiansz, Malin Dias and Yomesh Ranasinghe.Among them Malin Dias is the vice-captain of the team who also happens to be a skilled batsman scoring 300 runs so far in the season.
All the preparations suggest one thing; a countdown to a cricketfinale of massive proportions. Whether it’s Isipathana or Thurstanthat walks away with the winning title, or it ends in a draw, the memories of this historical occasion will not be over-shadowed in a hurry.
We at ThePapare.com congratulate both schools on this momentous sporting occasion. Long may thrive the ‘Big Matches’ …
