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| Thursday, 26 February 2004 |
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Dialog GSM powers the 125th Battle of the Blues Dialog GSM, will sponsor the 125th Royal Thomian Cricket Encounter, which will be worked off on the 11th, 12th and 13th of March at the SSC Grounds, Dialog GSM will also be the sponsor of the Royal Thomian Limited Overs Encounter, which will be played on the 20th of March under lights at the R. Premadasa Cricket Stadium. This year marks the fourth consecutive year that the Battle of the Blues will be sponsored by Dialog GSM, with the one-day encounter also being sponsored from last year. Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, CEO of Dialog GSM said 'It is an honour and privilege to be associated with the Royal Thomian Encounter - especially in its 125th Year. Over the past years we have worked closely with both schools and the organizing committees to make the battle of the blues an enjoyable experience for all. While wishing all Royalists and Thomians a memorable 125th big match, I would like to express our sincere appreciation for the support extended to Dialog GSM by the organizers and the Warden of St. Thomas' College and Principal of Royal College Respectively. The Chairman of the 125th Royal-Thomian Organising Committee Ratnasabapathi Udayakumar speaking at a press briefing at the Galadari Hotel on Tuesday said that this prestigious Battle of the Blues encounter between Royal and S. Thomas' has so far been played uninterrupted for 124 years. Even the two world wars did not disrupt this series. The first Prime Minister of Sri Lanka D.S. Senanayake and Premier Dudley Senanayake, played for S. Thomas' College while the first elected executive president of Sri Lanka J.R. Jayewardene and Premier Sir John Kotalawala played for Royal College. Ranjan Madugalle, chief Referee, ICC and Former Captain of Sri Lanka's Cricket Team captained Royal College at the historic Centenary Royal Thomian Cricket Match in 1979. Organizing a match of this magnitude is not an easy task. My committee and I with the guidance of the Principal of Royal College and the Warden of S' Thomas College, and with the co-operation of the Staff and Students of both Schools have been working tirelessly to make this Match a success and a match to be remembered. I thank Dialog, the principal sponsor of this event. They have sponsored this event for the last three years and have signed up with us for the next three years thus showing their commitment to promote cricket at school level. On behalf of the two Schools and the committee, I thank Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Chief Executive Officer and Nushad Perera, General Manager - Sales and Marketing (a Royal Thomian combination) and the rest of the Dialog team for their sponsorship and commitment. Security and discipline will be of paramount concern, and in this regard we have the fullest co-operation of the Sri Lanka Police and other security organizations. Violence, hooliganism and drunken behaviour will not be tolerated, and we have banned the use of Glass bottles and Firecrackers. Last year we had some VIP's children and others creating very unpleasant incidents, and wish to appeal to all spectators to conduct themselves in a gentlemanly manner befitting the game. The two oldest living captains - Thomian Bertie Wijesinghe (1939) and Royalist S.G. Salgado (1942) were presented mementoes by centenary match hero Mahinda Halangoda and ICC chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle respectively. The Warden of St. Thomas' Dr. David Ponniah thanked Dialog GSM for coming forward to sponsor the 125th Royal-Thomian match. Giving a brief history of the Royal-Thomian match he said that Royal College which was then known as the Colombo Academy was inaugurated in 1835 and three years later cricket was introduced to the school by Rev. Brooke Bailey. S. Thomas College was formed in 1851 and started playing cricket a few years later. The first big match between the two schools was played in 1879 in which teachers also took part. So the first official big match was in 1880 and since then 124 matches had been played in the Royal-Thomian series which is the oldest big match in the world which had been played without a break. S. Thomas have won 33 matches while Royal have emerged victorious on 32 occasions with 59 games ending in draws. Referring to the famous 1885 match in which Royal were bundled out for a paltry nine runs he said that S. Thomas were awarded the match as the Royal players refused to take the field on the second day although the two umpires insisted them to take the field. The joint Royal-Thomian walk held last week has helped to bring about friendship and understanding between the two schools, he said in conclusion. |
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