It is the second oldest inter-school cricket encounter in the island where two prestigious institutions, Royal College and Wesley College will battle it out for the Frank Gunasekara Shield at Reid Avenue, on the 13th and the 14th of February 2015.
The first encounter between the two schools was played back in 1893 at San Sebastian Hill, Hultsdorf, home of the Royalists. The hosts were led by F.S. De Silva while Percy de Bruin captained the visitors. One of the umpires were John Harward, then principal of Royal College. The Royalists won the inaugural encounter by 53 runs.
This year it will be the 122nd occasion both schools will meet. Royal lead the tally with 50 wins to Wesley’s 21 while 50 were ended with no result. The only break in the series came in 1943 when the grounds of both schools were taken over by the British during the Second World War.
The shield is named after a famous Ceylonese Senator, an old Royalist Sir Frank Gunasekara who was the Deputy President of the Senate of Ceylon in 1948.
The shield was first awarded in 1969 with Wesley emerging victorious under the leadership of Amaresh Rajaratnam. The result was made possible due to sporty declarations by both sides. Batting first, Wesley scored 260 for 9 while Royal replied with 207 for 7. With a lead of 53 runs from the first innings, Wesley declared at 105 for 8, setting the Royalists with a target of 158. The game subsequently ended in a thrilling finish as Royal were bowled out for 148 in the last over, giving a 9 run win for Wesley.
However fortunes were short lived, as Royal won it back in the following year, leaving Wesley with no option but to wait for another 42 years to taste victory, which they did so in 2012 under the captaincy of Ashen Fonseka.
The centenary encounter was played as a three-day affair at the P.Sara Oval in 1993 where Royal triumphed under Gamini Perera. The Wesleyites were led by Tehran Rasool in the centenary game. After bowling out Wesley for 103 runs, the boys from Reid Avenue posted a mammoth total of 411 for 6 with the skipper himself scoring an unbeaten 152. The match was ended within two days when Wesley were bowled out for 112 in their second innings, giving the Royalists an emphatic win of innings and 196 runs. N. Rajan’s brilliant bowling earned him a match bag of 10 for 43 runs.
The highest individual score of the series is held by the former Royal skipper Chulaka Amarasinghe who scored an unbeaten 207 in 1983 while Roshan David’s 199 in 1990 stands as the best for the Wesleyites. David’s innings also happens to be the highest score by any opponent against Royal at a school cricket fixture.
Royal’s highest total of 463 for 9 came in 1930 while the highest total for Wesley was their 368 runs which came in 1990.
Having won the encounter in 2012, Wesley currently holds the shield where the last win for Royal was recorded in 2010.
This year the Wesleyites, will be looking forward to hold on to the celebrated shield which they earned after a long wait while the Royalists will be hoping to do their utmost to bring it back to Reid Avenue.
