New book covers 140 Royal-Thomian encounters

Shantilal Wijesundere, an old Thomian and a cricket enthusiast, has compiled a comprehensive book covering all 140 encounters played since the inauguration of the battle in 1880.

The writer who wrote a similar book two years back covering the Mustang Trophy encounters has meticulously presented the details including all scorecards of the matches played thus far in the world’s second oldest uninterrupted match in the world behind Prince Alfred College and St. Peter’s College - two leading schools in Adelaide, South Australia.

He has added to a collection of materials already made available by a joint committee of old boys for the first 125 years, with a detail account of each match played during the last 15 years. In the presentation of the results of the last 15 years, the writer has given a brief description of each day’s play, so that the passionate cricket fan could relive the moments of those ‘fascinating matches, impressive performances, and moments of glory and dejection!’.

‘ The information that I relied on was obtained from published souvenirs of both schools, articles, the library at Wijeya Newspapers Ltd and through my contacts, ” Wijesundere wrote in the foreword.

Wijesundere not only covers the matches but also gives a brief history of the two schools, the birth of this great cricket rivalry, several articles written by stalwarts of both schools of the controversial nine- run match in 1885, the famous victory of Royal in 1919 where they beat Thomians inside a day and details of some of the outstanding families in the series.

The 292-page book also mentions about Kusal Janith Perera - a Royalist, who played one of the greatest Test innings of all time scoring a match winning unbeaten 153 against South Africa in 2019.

Chandra Schaffter, the well known business magnate, cricket administrator, a double international in cricket and hockey, and Thomian stalwart commenting on the book says the book is a tremendous work of love more than anything else.

“You have gone to great trouble, and in your usual meticulous way, you have produced information that many of us who are either Royalists or Thomians, and love the game, would love to have and read. Since S. S. Perera’s book - the Janashakthi Book of Sri Lanka Cricket - was published in 1999 I think, there has been nothing worthwhile on cricket history. True what you have written is only about the Royal-Thomian series, but to a large number of cricket lovers, that is all that matters,” Mr. Schaffter wrote.

Renowned lawyer Vijaya Malalasekera who played with great distinction for Royal ( 1962- 63), a centurion in the series commended the effort of the writer.

“I have perused your manuscript which is to be published in time for the next RoyalThomian match in March 2020. You have covered all 140 encounters including the 125 which were the subject matter of a publ i c ation by a Committee of old boys of both schools. I know also that you did an earlier publication on the Mustangs Trophy encounters. The last 15 matches which you cover gives more facts and providing the first names of players and providing a brief description of the performances, adds so much to the memories of these encounters. The interesting trivia which you have given is fascinating and the depth of your research is commendable. As an old boy of Royal, the value of your book to me and my former teammates and those who represented our College before and after is incapable of measurement. It is a book which will be a necessary addition to the collections of sports literature in Sri Lanka and elsewhere too,” Mr. Malalasekera, former Chairman of the Interim Committee for the Board of Control for Cricket, and present Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Cricket at Royal College wrote.

The book sponsored by Supreme TV, could be purchased from the General Manager STC OBA Mt. Lavinia and from the Royal College Union office.