Royalists highly Thomians go out
S. Thomas’s College, Mt. Lavinia begin as favourites against Royal College, Colombo in the 141st ‘Battle of the Blues’ cricket encounter but both teams prefer to go in as underdogs when they vie for the prestigious Rt. Hon. D.S. Senanayake Memorial Shield from March 12 to 14 at the SSC grounds.
All-rounders Thevindu Senarathne and Thevin Eriyagama will lead Royal and S. Thomas’ respectively in the 2020 edition of ‘Battle of the Blues’, powered by Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC.
Both Royal and S. Thomas’ have recorded four outright wins apiece this season.
Royal promoted to division one this season played 15 matches, registered outright wins against St. Anthony’s, Katugastota by 83 runs, Ananda by 8 wickets, De Mazenod, Kandana by 9 wickets and Isipathana by an innings and 22 runs in addition to first innings wins against St. Joseph’s and Mahinda.
The Thomians played 17 matches this season, trouncing St. John’s, Jaffna, Dharmapala, and Dharmasoka, Ambalangoda by innings and defeating Ananda by 5 wickets. They conceded first innings points to Trinity , Prince of Wales and Nalanda but won their remaining encounters on first innings with two matches being abandoned and one drawn.
The Thomians are on a roll having amassed 438 runs in a practice match against D.S. Senanayake College a few days ago.
“We are confident and are favourites but I prefer to go as underdogs. In my seven years of my second stint as coach, this is the only year Royal have a well balanced side. Because of that I won’t underestimate the Royal team. I prefer going as underdogs though we won last year,” reiterated Thomian head coach Dinesh Kumarasinghe.
Royal’s head coach Jehan Mubarak was pragmatic ahead of the encounter being wary of the opposition despite the boys thirsting for revenge.
“S. Thomas’ are very good side. Even without Kalana Perera they are very strong. They bat deep. Even their last man can bat. It’s not going to be easy. Just because we lost last year, everybody is motivated and want to try and bring the shield back. But it is going to be a lot of hard work because S. Thomas’ are a good team this year as well,” said the former Sri Lanka opening batsman.
Mubarak felt it was difficult to compare their performance from last season.
“Last year we played in division two where the standard is a lot lower. We have been playing in division two for two years. Overall the development is good. Players have improved over the season. Bowling has been good. In batting most of season we were without Ahan (Wickramasinghe) and Kamil (Mishara), the two Sri Lanka Under-19 players. After they came back, batting looks much better at least on paper,” he said.
Royal skipper Senaratne has led from the front stroking an unbeaten 109 off 81 balls and claiming 3 for 17 to propel his side a memorable win over Ananda after 11 years.
The leading run-getter for Royal has been Kamil Mishara who made over 600 runs at an average of 75.38 despite missing many matches when he was on national duty. The left-hander slammed two centuries with a top score of 158 against Isipathana and marathon 141 against Wesley. He cracked 69 against England to help Sri Lanka win the TriSeries final in the Caribbean but showed indifferent form during the Youth World Cup in South Africa.
Wicket keeper batsman Kavindu Madarasinghe has the second highest aggregate of 578 and has been in ominous form making a record-breaking unbeaten 200 off just 242 balls against Trinity at Asgiriya Stadium a fortnight before the big match. The left hander’s monumental knock surpassed the previous highest score of 181 not out by Royalist Sumithra Warnakulasuriya in 1981 at Reid Avenue in the RoyalTrinity. Madarasinghe also cracked five half centuries.
Another southpaw Isiwara Dissanayake has the next best aggregate of 495, including a defiant 110 to force a draw against St. Peter’s at SSC ground. He also missed a century against St. Joseph’s making 94.