‘Play for a Cause’ - Dialog partners Battle of the Blues
Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC, has once again come forward as the official sponsor of Sri Lanka’s blue ribbon cricket encounter, the ‘Battle of the Blues’ between Royal College and S. Thomas’ College played for the prestigious Rt. Hon. D S Senanayake Memorial Shield.
The 138th encounter is scheduled to be played from March 9 to 11 at the SSC Grounds, Colombo.
In 2015 Dialog Axiata rekindled old ties with Sri Lanka’s oldest and grandest schools’ big match by stepping in yet again as the official sponsor of the ‘Battle of the Blues’.
In this year’s encounter, the boys from the sea side will be led by Romesh Nallapperuma, whilst the lads from Reid Avenue will be spearheaded by Helitha Vithanage.
The Royal-thomian has a rich and colourful history of 138 years, and is also the second longest uninterrupted cricket series played in the world - second only to the annual encounter played between St. Peters College, Adelaide and Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, Australia, begun just a year earlier.
In 1880, the first match in which only the boys took part was played on the Galle Face Green, the present-day location of the Taj Samudra Hotel. This was the start to the Centenary series.
Since it began the Battle of the Blues encounter has had the distinction of producing cricketers who later became eminent heads of state, with S. Thomas’ producing the father of the nation, Rt. Hon. D. S. Senanayake MP and his son, Dialog has also pledged to contribute Rs.1,000 for every run scored and Rs. 10,000 for every wicket that falls for the development of cricket in a resource deficit school. Last year’s exciting encounter contributed Rs. 1,255,000 to the ‘Play for a Cause’ pledge Hon. Dudley Senanayake MP, as Prime Ministers of Ceylon, while Royal produced Rt. Hon. (General) Sir John Kotelawala MP as Prime Minister and the first Executive President of Sri Lanka, H.E. J. R. Jayawardena.
The tally between the two schools at present stands at 35 for Royal and 34 for S. Thomas’, with the highly debated famous match in 1885, where Royal were all out for 09 runs with no play on the second day possible, being considered a win by S. Thomas’ and considered a draw by Royal.
After last year’s heroics by the Royal XI, the shield at present sits as the crown jewel amongst the silverware in the trophy cabinet at Royal College, which will be challenged for possession by the Thomian outfit this year.
Dialog has also pledged to contribute Rs.1,000 for every run scored and Rs. 10,000 for every wicket that falls for the development of cricket in a resource deficit school. Last year’s exciting encounter contributed Rs. 1,255,000 to the ‘Play for a Cause’ pledge.