138th Royal-Thomian Battle of the Blues powered by Dialog

Dialog Axiata Plc Group Chief Marketing Officer Amali Nanayakkara handing over the sponsorship cheque to Royal College Principal B.A. Abeyratne and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia Warden Revd. Fr. Marc Billimoria. Others from left: Royal College Captain Helitha Vithanage, Royal-Thomian Match Organising Committee 2017 (STC) Co-Chairman Eransaka  Perera, Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera, Dialog Axiata Plc Group Chief Corporate Officer Shayam Majeed, Royal-Thomian Match Organising Committee 2017 Co- Chairman Ashan De Silva and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia Captain Romesh Nallapperuma

Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider Dialog Axiata Plc is once again the official sponsor of Sri Lanka’s blue-ribbon cricket encounter, the Battle of the Blues between Royal College, Colombo and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia for the prestigious Rt. Hon. D.S. Senanayake Memorial Shield from 9-11 March at the SSC Grounds, Colombo. 

In 2015, Dialog Axiata rekindled old ties with Sri Lanka’s oldest and grandest schools’ big match by stepping in yet again as the official sponsor of the Battle of the Blues. 

In this year’s encounter, the boys from Mount Lavinia will be led by Romesh Nallapperuma, while the lads from Reid Avenue will be under the captaincy of Helitha Vithanage.

The Royal-Thomian has a rich and colourful history of 138 years, and is also the second-longest uninterrupted cricket series played in the world, second only to the annual encounter played between St. Peter’s College, Adelaide and Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, Australia, which began just a year earlier.  In 1880, the first match in which only the boys took part was played on the Galle Face Green, the present-day location of the Taj Samudra Hotel. This was the start to the centenary series.

The playing fields of the Roy-Tho have the distinction of producing cricketers who later became eminent heads of state, with S. Thomas’ producing the father of the nation, D.S. Senanayake and his son Dudley Senanayake as Prime Ministers of Ceylon, while Royal produced (General) Sir John Kotelawala as Prime Minister and the first Executive President of Sri Lanka, J.R. Jayawardena.

Royal College Captain Helitha Vithanage and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia Captain Romesh Nallapperuma present the prestigious D.S. Senanayake Memorial Shield to the media at the launch event of Sri Lanka’s blue-ribbon cricket match, the 138th Battle of the Blues. Others from left: Royal College Principal B.A. Abeyratne, Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia Warden Revd. Fr. Marc Billimoria

The tally between the two schools at present stands at 35 for Royal and 34 for S. Thomas’, with a highly debated match being played in 1885, where Royal College were all out for nine runs with no play held on the second day. S. Thomas’ considers this encounter a win while Royal sees it as a draw. After last year’s heroics by the Royal XI, the shield at present sits as the crown jewel amongst the silverware in the trophy cabinet of Royal College. The Thomian outfit will try desperately to wrestle back possession of it this year. 

At the 136th edition of the Royal-Thomian, Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider Dialog Axiata Plc rekindled a long and successful partnership with Sri Lanka’s blue-ribbon big match, The Battle of the Blues. Dialog has also pledged to contribute Rs. 1,000 for every run scored and Rs. 10,000 for every wicket that falls for the development of cricket in a resource deficit school. Last year’s exciting encounter contributed Rs. 1,255,000 to the Play for a Cause pledge. 

Pix by Indraratne Balasuriya