DUBAI: It’s history in the making as Old Royalists and Old Thomians in the UAE return to battle for a second time this year at the first T20 cricket match between the alumni of two of Sri Lanka’s oldest and renowned schools at the ICC Academy Grounds in Dubai Sports City on Friday, 6 April.
Just weeks after playing in a rousing ‘16th Battle of the Blues’ in the Gulf, the two teams are gearing up to grab the honours at the inaugural free-to-attend T20 match. Both sides are taking their first ever foray into the real hard ball game of cricket with the seriousness of a ‘do-or-die’ battle, packing their respective squads with top players who have shone for their alma mater.
Capt. Old Royalists
The Old Royalists are led by veteran Sugeesha Dinushan, who played in the ‘Big Match’ in Colombo in 2000. Other ‘Big Match’ heroes in the team are Yasitha Abeykoon, who captained Royal against S. Thomas and was a member of Sri Lanka’s indoor cricket team, Amila Kariyakarawana, Amal Karunaratne and Danushka Edussuriya, who has a century to his credit in the ‘Battle of the Blues’ series. Shehan Jayawardena and Mohammed Najmi also played for the first XI team of Royal.
The Old Thomians have many all-rounders and are bound to give their traditional rivals a run for their money.
Left arm spinner Randesh Vas will lead the Old Thomians in Friday’s face off in the desert. Randesh, a qualified cricket coach, played for S.Thomas for three consecutive years – 1994, 1995 and 1996 – and he will be ably assisted by seasoned players, who represented the first XI side – Anura Bandaranayke, who also played in the Sri Lankan Under-19 team, and ‘Battle of the Blues’ centurions, Bhathiya Karunaratne and Meshadh Peiris.
With the two schools boasting of a vibrant old boys network, the trendsetting T20 ‘Battle of the Blues’ is bound to be played in a spirit of camaraderie and friendship and promises to generate yet another fun-filled atmosphere for the players, their families and friends and cricket fans.
Sri Lanka’s annual Royal-Thomian cricket match is the second oldest cricket encounter in the world, next to England’s famous Eton vs Harrow match. The ‘Battle of the Blues’ which has been played without interruption even during the two World Wars, celebrated its 139th edition this year at the SSC grounds in Colombo.
Thousands of former students from both schools are domiciled abroad, and many of them fly to Colombo to attend their “Big Match” every year, while others belonging to the alumni associations of these two schools, form a key component of the Sri Lankan expatriate communities overseas, and usually organize their own version of the “Big Match” in their respective countries of domicile.
THE T20 SQUADS:
Old Royalists: Sugeesha Dinushan (Captain), Yasitha Abeykoon, Shehan Jayawardena, Amila Kariyakarawana, Amal Karunaratne, Roshan Chandrasena, Daminda Dharmapala, Sadheesh Balan, Mohammed Najmi, Arshiq Muhseen, Zafraz Faiz, Kethiswram Singaravel, Danushka Edussuriya, Tharindu Abeysekera and Chamod Gunarathna.
Old Thomians: Randesh Vas (Captain), Anura Bandaranayke, Bhathiya Karunaratne, Meshadh Peiris, Sadesh De Silva, Jonathan Devadasan, Nimesh Chamara, Sailas Mohamed Kaleel, Buddika Thelge, Nanthankumar Diluxshan, Aaron William Benjamin, Rajivan Radhakrishnan, Ian Antonio Rodrigo, George Kulasekere, Rukshan Mendis.
