'Big match' fever in Sri Lanka

It's the 'big match' season in Sri Lanka during which all key traditional school cricket encounters are being played in a carnival atmosphere.

More than the sporting interests of these matches, the traditional 'big matches' have turned out to be the annual meeting point for the students young and old of those educational institutions. Most old boys, irrespective of their social status and country of residence, make it a point to be present at their annual big matches to go down memory lane and share their past experience with their batch mates.

Hence, the annual big matches generate a tremendous volume of enthusiasm and interest in society. These games also provide an ideal opportunity for the present students of those schools to enjoy some entertaining cricket in a different atmosphere, away from their classrooms.

True there are some isolated incidents where the old boys as well as students overstep their limits but that does not mean the 'big match culture' is bad altogether. The majority of young and old boys experience an innocent enjoyment which is a rich blend of cricket as well as networking.

It is the season where the die-hard old boys reach the peak of their true feelings for their alma mater.

The 'biggest' big match of the season - the Battle of the Blues, will have their 130th meeting at the SSC grounds from today. Over the past 130 years, the Royal-Thomian has turned out to be an interesting meeting, maintaining its high traditions which are hard to match.

It has produced many Sri Lankan cricketing legends, including the current ICC Chief Match Referee, Ranjan Madugalle who captained Royal in the 1979 centenary encounter. I had the fortune of cheering my cricketing idol as a student from the Royal College Boys Tent in that centenary encounter. But I had to give up my school affiliations and ink in a neutral manner since I took to journalism.

The Royal-Thomian became a three-day affair since the 1979 centenary encounter, but following some unfortunate incidents in 1984, the 1985 encounter was curtailed to two days. We, as senior college prefects in that Royal's 150th year, extended our solidarity by organising Royal-Thomian cricket and rugby matches as a lead up to the 1985 'big match'.

Prior to Heshan de Silva (Royal) and Linden Loos (S.Thomas') walking to the middle for the toss, the prefects of Royal and S.Thomas' paraded in two different directions to shake hands at the middle. That goodwill mission and the efforts of the school authorities enabled the match to regain its three-day 'status' from the following year.

The Battle of the Blues series have had the State patronage and the late President J.R. Jayewardene had been a keen spectator at the Royal-Thomian matches. Former Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and many present and past Cabinet Ministers have always made it a point to take time off their busy schedules to experience the 'big match' fever.

It will be a personal milestone for yours truly who will be covering the Royal-Thomian for the 21st successive year, though my association with the Battle of the Blues series as a student and media personality has been for 32 years. I always considered it to be a privilege to cover the Royal-Thomian for Sri Lanka's flagship English newspaper and even did it when I was the Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday Observer for two years. The Royal-Thomian has its own electronic media culture with an exclusive panel as commentators. They enrich listeners with some interesting past experience, something which an ordinary commentator would find it hard to do.

Be it the Royal-Thomian or any other key inter-school big match such as Ananda-Nalanda, Josephian-Peterite or Thurstan-Isipatana, there are many interesting stories associated with the history of those great encounters.

The 'big matches' are not confined to Colombo but have also been extended to major towns in the outstations - Trinity-Antonian and Dharmaraja-St.Sylvester's in Kandy, Richmond-Mahinda in Galle and St.Anne's-Maliyadeva in Kurunegala. It was nice to see the Jaffna 'big match' between St.John's and Jaffna Central being revived a few years back so that the true big match spirit would be extended to Jaffna Peninsula as well. Sport is a great leveller and the true spirit of the game would strengthen solidarity amongst youth in Jaffna too.

The traditional cycle parades on the eve of the big matches have now been curtailed due to misbehavior of a few individuals. But in the good old days, participating in the cycle parade was an 'innocent experience'.

Representing one's school in a big match was a proud experience and a rare milestone for any student. Those schoolboy cricketers got a hero's welcome at the big matches and was an unforgettable experience.

However, due to undue competition and interests, most big matches have turned to be dull and monotonous affairs in recent times. Most big matches do not produce results though their captains and coaches talks big about positive approaches in their pre-match interviews. Forgetting the true spirit of the game, neither the captains nor their coaches want to take even half chances or risks to make those games wide open.

Under the circumstances, it was nice to see Royal-Thomian producing results on three of the last four meetings. Nobody wants to lose but it's the duty of the captains and coaches of the respective teams to adopt positive thinking and make those games open, rather than playing for meaningless draws.

But those drab draws do not generate anything worthwhile from cricketing aspects, those spectators, who are not too bothered to find out what's happening on the middle, have their own enjoyment, sharing their past experience and sweet memories with their colleagues. Hence, irrespective of the outcome of the games, these big matches provide ideal atmosphere for the young and present boys at this annual meeting point.