By Akhila Seneviratne
After 17 months and a delay of nearly 5 months, the prestigious Royal Thomian Cricket Encounter will continue as the 2nd longest uninterrupted cricket encounter in the world, behind the “Intercol” between Prince Alfred College and St. Peter’s College Adelaide.
This long standing tradition, even older than the Ashes, will commence tomorrow at the SSC for the 142nd occasion, and will be heald for 3 days. The Royal Thomian Cricket Encounter has been played since 1879 but the first game was not considered an official one since masters were also part of the inaugural match, which was the brain child of Royal College master Mr. Ashley Walker. This tradition later evolved into a cultural event for both schools that take pride in the festivity and with many other events that happen in line with the big encounter.
The global pandemic pushed back school cricket many months back and this will be the only ‘Big Match’ that will be played this year, behind closed doors, since the hault of the school’s cricket season. The extended break puts both teams at a disadvantage at not reaching their peak performance after playing their traditional two day matches, apart from the one day tournament. It is interesting to note that 3 Sri Lanka Under 19 players who were part of the tour against Bangladesh are playing in this encounter.
S. Thomas’ College team –
S. Thomas’ College will be captained by 4th year Coloursman Shalin De Mel. He is a centurion this season and is yet to score one on the big stage, having missed his century in the last year’s big match when he was caught on 85. Vice captain Ryan Fernando, another fine top order batter is a Sri Lanka U19 player and has 3 centuries under his name. Fellow U19 teammate Yasiru Rodrigo, who is also a centurion and handy power hitter, along with Caniston Gunaratnam will be the opening fast bowlers, who carry a huge responsibility in the bowling attack as the only experienced bowlers. These 4 players are the only coloursmen in the Thomian team.
The remaining of the team a consist of freshers. S. Thomas experimented with many young players this season to find the perfect combination. Thenuka Liyanage, Anuk Palihawadana and Senesh Hettiarachchi have made consistent contributions with the bat. Youngsters like Nathan Caldera, Mahith Perera and Romesh Mendis, who is the grandson of Duleep Mendis, are likely to play.
They didn’t see too many wins like the previous years and the spin department has had many changes. Palihawadana has been the leading spinner for the Thomians and young leg spinner, Rajindu Thilakaratne, the youngest son of Hashan Thilakaratne, also makes it into the playing 11.
Royal College team –
Unlike STC who have only 4 coloursmen, Royal College boast 6 coloursmen and have been in fine form this season, emerging as Div 1 Group A runners up. They have been consistent in all departments and are being coached by Jehan Mubarak. Skipper Ahan Wickramasinghe, a former Sri Lanka U19 player, has been their most aggressive striker with a double century under his name. His deputy Kavindu Pathiranatne is a sharp fast bowler and is likely to be assisted by freshers Dan Poddiwala and Sonal Amarasekara. The three pacemen have been in the frontline and will look to trouble the Thomian batters.
The spin department will be led by left arm spinner Gishan Balasooriya, their highest wicket taker, and off spinner Prashnan Kalhara. Both bowlers share many 5-fers between them and are more experienced than the Thomian spinners. As for batting, they have good options in the names of Dasis Machanayake, their last year’s big match hero who saved the match with a half century, Isiwara Dissanayake who is also an experienced campaigner with a century, and fresher Sadisha Rajapaksa who is a SL U19 player. He and skipper Ahan broke the highest schoolboy partnership for any wicket as they put 362 runs together against Trinity. Youngsters Sineth Lakwan and stumper Shehan Herath are the probable openers fooor Royal.
Possible outcome-
Royal College are coming into the match after an almost perfect season, only losing to St. Joseph’s College in the finals. On paper, Royal seem the stronger side on paper and S. Thomas’ have an uphill task if they want to defend the shield they last won in 2019. Royal College last won in 2016. Though a final result cannot be predicted, given the fighting comebacks that have been seen in the past, it is fair to conclude that both sides will want to give their best while Royal College, having the slightly more experienced team, will want to go all guns ablaze.
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