New features at Royal-Thomian this year

Saturday, 8 March 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The 135th ‘Battle of the Blues’ between Royal and S. Thomas’ to be played next week will see a new Big Match logo and a new gold coin being introduced. In its long history this is first time that a special logo has been created for the Royal-Thomian encounter. The gold coin will be used for tossing. The new logo and the gold toss coin were ceremonially unveiled at a press conference held at Ministry of Sports, Race Course, Colombo 7 on 6 March, 2014. The Royal Thomian Big Match logo Creating history the Big Match logo has been conceived taking into account vital factors related to the history of the Royal-Thomian encounter. The logo maintains simplicity and derives its shape from the prestigious D.S. Senanayake Memorial Shield for which the match is fought. The year indication at the top of the logo stands for the date of the first encounter. The appearance of the two school crests, follow the order of the name of the match. The usage of old English typography for the name of the match is to signify the rich heritage and prestige of the event. The text under the name of the match is a unique one given only to the match between these two schools owing to the colours of their school flags. The colour schemes are self-explanatory. Finally the cricketer is the personification of the sport itself. According to the Royal-Thomian 2014 Committee Chairman, Harith Jayasuriya, the logo will be used every year for better identity and acceptance of the Big Match giving it added prestige and exclusivity. The gold coin will be kept safely in a Bank vault to be used annually. “This combined intuitive is creating history which is a renaissance for the Royal-Thomian after 135 years,” he added. “The annual Royal -Thomian Big Match is arguably the most prestigious and looked forward to cricketing encounter in the Sri Lankan schools cricket calendar. I am extremely pleased once again to be a part of this historic event, which is going from strength-to-strength in terms of cricketing excellence, attendance and public interest,” he further said. The match, which is played for the prestigious D.S. Senanayake Memorial Shield will be held at the Sinhalese Sports Club grounds (SSC) on 13, 14 and 15 March. The three-day encounter will be followed by the 39th ‘Mustangs Trophy’ One Day encounter on 22 March, also played at SSC. This year too, the match is sponsored by Etisalat Sri Lanka. This would be the fifth consecutive year that Etisalat Sri Lanka has come in to boost this cricket encounter between these two traditional rivals. Etisalat was awarded the bid in 2013 to sponsor this prestigious cricket encounter for three years. Last year’s 134th Battle of the Blues saw Royal College emerge as champions, while the Mustang’s Trophy was also won by Royal College. The match is preceded by the legendary cycle parade which usually takes place on the day before the Big Match, with the official objective of visiting the captain’s house to encourage him. This annual encounter has been played by the schools from 1879 onwards. The three-day match is acknowledged to be second-longest uninterrupted cricket match series in the world and is affectionately known as the ‘Battle of the Blues’ due to the blue colour shared by the two colleges.

The 135th Battle of the Blues

Royal College Captain Devind Pathmanathan (L) and S. Thomas’ College Captain Javed Bongso hold the gold toss coin. The 135th ‘Battle of the Blues’ between Royal and S. Thomas’ to be played next week will see a new Big Match logo and a new gold coin being introduced. A new logo and the gold toss coin were ceremonially unveiled at a press conference held at the Ministry of Sports Auditorium on 6 March, 2014 – Pix by Daminda Harsha Perera