Dialog powers the 142nd Royal-Thomian ‘Battle of the Blues’

Royal-Thomian Joint Match Committee Co-Chairman Prasanna Fernando, Acting Principal of Royal College V.M.S Gunatilake, St. Thomas College Warden Rev. Marc Bilimoria, Dialog Axiata Group Chief Customer Officer Sandra De Zoysa, Dialog Axiata VP – Enterprise Business and Large Enterprise Sales Navin Pieris and Royal-Thomian Joint Match Committee Co-Chairman Roshan Adams  

• At the picturesque Sooriyawewa International Cricket Stadium from 6-8 May 

Sri Lanka’s longest rivalry in schools cricket comes alive this May as premier boys schools Royal College – Colombo and St. Thomas’ College – Mt. Lavinia, will battle it out once again for the 142nd uninterrupted blue ribbon cricket encounter, the ‘Battle of the Blues’, played for the prestigious Rt. Hon. D. S. Senanayake Memorial Shield, from 6-8 May, at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium – Sooriyawewa, Hambantota. 

The match will be played behind closed doors, keeping in line with the COVID-19 restrictions and the health and safety guidelines mandated by Ministry of Health, while Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) regulates playing conditions. The 142nd ‘Battle of the Blues’ cricket encounter will be broadcast live on Dialog Television channel number 72, and will also be available via a live stream on the ThePapare.com and the Dialog ‘Viu’ app. The limited over ‘Mustangs Trophy’ match will be played in a T20 format on 10 May.

Due to the prevailing pandemic, Sri Lanka’s blue-ribbon annual cricket encounter will break from tradition and will be played for the first time in its 142-year-old illustrious history, out of Colombo at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium – Sooriyawewa. The teams, coaches and support staff along with umpires and match officials will follow bio-secure environment (BSE) protocols, in line with the COVID-19 health and safety guidelines under the supervision of Southern Province and Hambantota Regional health services.

In the 2021 edition of the ‘Battle of the Blues’, powered by Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata PLC, the boys from Mt. Lavinia will be led by all-rounder Shalin de Mel, while the lads from Reid Avenue will play under the captaincy of elegant stroke-maker, Ahan Wickramasinghe.

‘The Royal – Thomian’ has a rich and colourful history spanning across 142 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, that began just a year earlier and the Australia vs England Ashes Series just two years before.

In 1880, the first match in which only the boys took part was played on Galle Face Green, the present location of the Taj Samudra Hotel. This was the start to the centenary series. Both teams are said to have rowed their boats across Beira Lake to play the match.

The playing fields of the ‘Roy – Tho’ has the distinction of producing cricketers who later became eminent heads of state, with St. Thomas’ producing the father of the nation, the late Rt. Hon. D. S. Senanayake MP (1901 - 1902) and his son, the late Hon. Dudley Senanayake MP (1927-1929) as Prime Ministers of Ceylon, while Royal produced the late Rt. Hon. (General) Sir John Kotelawala MP (1914-1915) as Prime Minister and the first Executive President of Sri Lanka, the late J. R. Jayawardene (1925).

The tally between the two schools at present stands at 35-all, with the highly-debated match in 1885, where Royal College was all out for nine runs with no play on the second day which was considered a win by St. Thomas’ and considered a draw by Royal as shown by the respective souvenir books of the two schools. The shield at present sits, akin to the crown jewels, amongst the silverware in the Warden’s trophy cabinet at St. Thomas’ College – Mt. Lavinia, after putting up a superb performance in 2019 under the captaincy of Sithara Hapuhinna, which will be challenged by a determined Royal XI this year, who racked up impressive wins during the COVID-19 impacted calendar.  The boys from Reid Avenue last won the coveted shield under stewardship of Geeshanth Paditharatne in 2016.

In 2019, on the 140th edition of the Royal-Thomian, Dialog rekindled a long and successful partnership with Sri Lanka’s blue-ribbon big match, ‘The Battle of the Blues’. The 142nd edition of the Royal-Thomian will be the thirteenth year that the match is sponsored by Dialog. Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, Dialog Axiata has also made a pledge to contribute Rs. 1,000 for every run scored and 10,000 rupees for every wicket that fell. Last year’s exciting encounter contributed Rs. 1,008,000 to the ‘Play for a Cause’ pledge. The proceedings were directed in consultation with the Principal of Royal College and the Warden of St. Thomas’ College to support and empower deserving schools in the country. Since the inception of the ‘Play for a Cause’ pledge, Rs. 6,151,000 worth of cricket gear was donated to ten deserving schools.

Played in the highest tradition of excellence, the two schools have a formed a bond of mutual respect, camaraderie, sportsmanship, and friendly adversaries on and off the field, which has stood for almost one-and-a-half centuries. As remarked by a yesteryear Principal of Royal College: “There is no Royal without St. Thomas’ and no St. Thomas’ without Royal.” 

Dialog Axiata is proud to sponsor Sri Lanka’s National Cricket, Rugby, Volleyball and Netball teams. The Company also has a close association with the President’s Gold Cup Volleyball, National Junior and Senior Netball tourneys, Club Rugby, Schools Rugby, Premier Football, Schools’ Cricket, Junior Volleyball and Paralympic sports – whilst also powering the Army Para Games, National Para Games and the Sri Lankan contingent to the Olympic and World Paralympic Games.

‘Esto Perpetua / Floreat’.