Royal will go flat out for victory

by Dinesh WEERAWANSA

Royal College, Colombo will go flat out to register a big match win after seven years when they take on their traditional rivals S.Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia in their 134th Battle of the Blues three-day cricket encounter which starts at SSC grounds, Colombo on Thursday. The Reid Avenue boys are determined to put an end to five successive drawn games in the series after they suffered an innings defeat at the hands of Ashan Peiris’ Thomians in 2007.

Royal last won in 2006 under Nadun Punchihewa and they are determined to win this year's encounter to level the series, considered the oldest and the uninterrupted inter-school cricket series in the world which began way back in 1880.

In Roanaka Ahangamage and Isuru Gunatileka, Royal has a solid opening pair which is capable of giving them a strong foundation.

They have shared nearly 1,200 runs between them with Gunatileka making the bulk of the scoring to aggregate over 630 runs with three half centuries and a polished knock of 154 against Ananda.

His partner Ahangamage too has done his part neatly, aggregating 498 runs - one century (143 Vs Prince of Wales )and two fifties.

The middle order batting of Royal looks extremely dependable with Hashen Ramanayake (aggregate of over 769runs with five fifties and attractive knocks of 87 against Thurstan and 82 against Dharmaraja), Shamindra Dias (224 runs in seven matches with a top score of 66 against St.Peter's) and vice captain Milan Abeysekera to follow.

Ramanayake, is the son of former Sri Lanka Test fast bowler turned fast bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake. Following his father's footsteps, Hashen Ramanayake began his career as a medium fast bowler, but now concentrates on batting to become one of the most successful batsmen this season.

Abeysekera has been the most successful Royal batsman this season with a rich aggregate of 801 rurns wth five half centuries and blistering 101 against Mahinda. He has also scored twin fifties (74 and 54) against Prince of Wales.

Among the other Royal batsmen who are capable of keeping the scoreboard moving are Heshan Kumarasiri with an aggregate of 606 runs), skipper Pathmanathan and Poorna Aluthge (273 runs with a good double of 50 and 49 against St. Joseph's). Kumarasiri has the most number of centuries to his credit - 110 n.o v Ananda, 106 v Mahinda and 125 n.o. v. Prince of Wales.

Royal had a few ups and downs in the season as they lost the services of their key players due to illness and injuries early in the season.

Royal captain Devin Pathmanathan was forced to keep himself out of three matches due to illness which deprived his side the luxury of his penetrative left-arm leg breaks - one of the best in school cricket this season.

Despite missing several games, the Royal skipper has captured 47 wickets this season including a magical 5 for 17 against Richmond.

He had taken more than 44 wickets and scored over 250 runs prior, to his illness during the season.

The strength of Royal's bowling mainly lies in their spin department. Skipper Pathmanathan's vicious leg breaks are the deadliest weapon in the Royal bowling armoury.

Poorna Aluthge, Captain Pathmanathan’s spin partner, is also another impressive performer with bat and ball.

Apart from his lavish contributions with the willow, Aluthge has captured a total of 59 wickets including two sensational analysis of 6 for 64 against Trinity and 5 for 29 against St.Anthony's, Katugastota.

The lads from Cinnamon Gardens remain unbeaten this season, winning four matches outright - against Isipatana, St. Anthony’s Katugastota, Dharmaraja and Thurstan.

Royal, in its proud and rich cricket history, has produced some top cricketers who had played for Sri Lanka with distinction.

Heading that galaxy of world class players is former Royal, NCC and Sri Lanka captain Ranjan Madugalle, now the Chief ICC Match Referee.

He led Royal in the 100th Battle of the Blues encounter. The longest unbeaten run by the Reid Avenue boys in the series was from 1965 to 1987. During the 23-year period without a single big match defeat, Royal emerged victorious on two occasions (1969 and 1983) while the rest of the 21 games were drawn.

Royal's last back-to-back victories in the series were recorded in 1990 and 1991 under Udaya Lakmal Wijesena and Rohan Irriyagolla respectively.

Royal's top order bat Sumithra Warnakulasuriya’s marathon knock of 197 in 1980 has remained the highest individual innings in the series.

Besides Warnakulasuriya, the only other Royalist to score a ‘big match century’ on debut was Jagath Pattiarachchi, who made 100 not out in 1974.

Royal also holds the series record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket - 254 runs for the third wicket between Anushka Polonowita (164) and Yasas Dharmarathne (124) in 1996.

Nigel Fernando is the youngest ever Royal captain in the series.He was only six days short of his 17th birthday when he led the Reid Avenue school in 1989.

In 1983, Royal's Rochana Jayawardene probably produced the best allround effort, stroking an unbeaten 145 not out and capturing 5 for 29 and 4 for 44 (which gave him a match haul of 9 for 73).

In 1930, Barney Gunasekera of Royal too, had an impressive match analysis a top score of 148 and 7 for 57. The highest total recorded by Royal is 432 for 7 declared in 2006.

Of the 132 encounters played todate, S.Thomas’ takes a slight lead with 34 wins to Royal's 33 with the rest drawn.

Royal last won the big match in 2006 under the leadership of Nadun Punchihewa.