Royal and Wesley clash in second oldest school match
Royal and Wesley will contest each other in what presumably is the second oldest inter-school cricket match to be played at Reid Avenue today and tomorrow.
This will be 120th encounter to be played between the two schools and is contested for the Sir Frank Gunesekera Shield which was first offered in the year 1969.
In that year Wesley led by Amaresh Rajaratnam was the first winner when they recorded a thrilling last victory. Royal laid their hands on the shield the very next year.
Royal lead the series with 50 wins under their belt with their last win being recorded in the year 2010 when the side was led by Bhanuka Rajapakse while Wesley have secured 21 wins with the last win being in 2012 under the leadership of Ashen Fonse- ka.The centenary match was played in 1993 was a three day game played at the P. Sara Stadium which was won by Royal.
The highest individual knock is held by Royalist Chulaka Amarasinghe who made an unbeaten 207 in 1983 at Campbell Park while the highest individual knock by a Wesleyite is by Roshan David who made 199 in 1990.
The best bowling figures is being held by Wesley’s M.L. Warish with figures of 9 for 17 which was achieved way back in 1897. The highest score by a team in the series is by Royal who made 369 in 1983 at Campbell Park while Wesley’s best is 311 for 7 declared they made in 1990 at SSC.
Royal will be led by Devin Pathmanathan and Wesley by Sachin Jayawar
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