Can Sineth change the fortunes of Royal against Thomians? 

After suffering back-to-back defeats at the hands of Trinity, Royal will look forward to shrugging off disappointments of the tail end of the season against arch-rivals S. Thomas’ when the two teams meet in the 144th Battle of the Blues starting at the SSC on March 15.

Dasis Manchanayake led Royal have mustered the support of Sri Lanka Cricket to field their Sri Lanka Under 19 player Sineth Jayawardena  at the historic encounter. Jayawardena and two other Sri Lanka Under 19 players have received exemptions to play their respective Big Matches despite being selected in the Youth team to take part in a tri-nation tournament in UAE.

Jayawardena was not a part of the Royal teams that suffered defeats at the hands of Trinity. Royal have won without and with him this season, but it seems that the team that had entered the past two Big Matches as favourties want to leave no stone unturned in fighting their arch-rivals.

His stay was limited to 38 first innings balls at the last edition and when spectators return to the annual encounter after a lapse of two years Jayawardena will be one of the key players to watch.  The top-order batsman could be the only change to the team that played the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘A’ quarter-final match against Trinity. The defeats at the hands of Trinity were probably the only disappointments experienced by Royal in a five-match league tournament involving 18 teams this season as they reached the business end of the tourney.

The Thomians on the other hand could not reach the last eight despite remaining unbeaten in Group ‘Z’ of the Tier ‘A’ tournament.  They registered four outright victories but all came during the third term on highly favourable home ground conditions where they dismissed teams batting first for low scores.

They were the underdogs for two consecutive Big Matches but this time the team led by Romesh Mendis have shrugged off that tag and are on par with Royal. Mendis is the batsman to watch in the Thomian camp. Both teams possess formidable pace attacks and that department could determine the outcome of the 144th encounter. (RF)