A Royal-Thomian without fans and outside Colombo for the first time

The Battle of the Blues will be played without fans and outside Colombo for the first time this year.

by Reemus Fernando

The organizers of the historic Royal-Thomian cricket encounter are planning to conduct this year’s Battle of the Blues at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa in May.

It will be the first time the historic Big Match is played outside Colombo and without fans.

“The joint match organizing committee has set tentative dates for the 142nd Battle of the Blues between Royal College, Colombo and S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia to be played on 6th, 7th and 8th of May,” a communiqué issued by the organizers announced.

“The one-day match is scheduled for May 10 and may be played as a T20 encounter. That will be decided in due time.”

“The joint match committee is seeking the necessary approvals from the respective government institutes and ministries and will be closely monitoring the health and safety conditions of the country in order to follow appropriate regulatory steps to secure necessary bio bubbles. We hope to telecast the match live in the interest of the supporters of both schools and cricket loving public,” the communiqué further stated.

Speaking to The Island an official said that both matches will be played behind closed doors keeping in line with health and safety guidelines.

The cricket series which commenced in 1880 had not been interrupted even during the two World Wars, local insurgencies and civil war. Generally the match is played in mid March and the joint committee commences preparations months ahead of the match.

It is the first time since 1994 the match will be played at a venue other than the SSC ground. It had been played at either the SSC or the Oval since 1942.

The Battle of the Blues was one of the very few Big Matches to be played last year before the outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic brought sports to a grinding halt and forced many Big Matches to be cancelled.