Royal–Thomian
| The Battle of the Blues (Royal-Thomian) |
|
|---|---|
| Sport | Cricket |
| Timeline | 1879 – present |
| Tournament format | Annual 3 day cricket match |
| Participants |
Royal College, Colombo S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia
|
| Current shield holder | Royal College (2016) |
The Royal–Thomian (The Battle of the Blues) is an annual cricket match played between Royal College, Colombo and S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia since 1879. It is known as The Battle of the Blues due to the colours of the two school's flags i.e. blue, gold and blue of Royal College and blue, black and blue of S. Thomas' College.
The original match was played between the Colombo Academy and S. Thomas' College, Mutwal in 1879, with schoolmasters and schoolboys participating. Mr. Ashley Walker captained the Colombo Academy while Rev. S. J. Meyrick, a member of the staff played for S. Thomas' College, Mutwal. This encounter is not considered the first match as Masters played for both sides.
In 1880, only the students took part and this first official encounter between the Colombo Academy and S. Thomas' College, Mutwal in Modara was played at Galle Face Grounds, which is today the site of the Taj Samudra Hotel. The match commenced at 4.00 p.m. each day. The Beira Lake stretched up to the present railway line close to San Sebastian Hill and the two teams rowed across in boats to the Galle Face Grounds. In this first encounter Colombo Academy won by 62 runs.
At present the match is played between Royal College, Colombo which is a public non-denominational school accommodating approximately 8,000 students and S. Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia which is a private Anglican school that has about 2500 boys on roll and a branch network of three constituent colleges with a total of over 5,500 students. It was the first schoolboy cricket match in Sri Lanka to be played over three days.
This match is played for the prestigious D. S. Senanayake Memorial Shield. Incidentally, Rt. Hon. D. S. Senanayake, who became the first Prime Minister of independent Ceylon, donned the Thomian cap in 1901 and 1902. This shield was first presented in 1928. If a match is drawn then the school already holding the shield retains it. Royal College are the current holders of the shield after winning the 137th Battle of the Blues in 2016, and drawing the 138th Battle of the Blues in 2017.
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