Has Sineth done enough to erase disappointments of the season

by Reemus Fernando

Royal skipper Sineth Jayawardane did not have much luck during the schools’ season where he was mostly on national duty captaining the youth team. When he returned home from a disappointing Cricket Youth World Cup in South Africa, Royal had suffered back-to-back defeats. His return brought much needed balance to the team as they went on to beat St. Peter’s after more than three decades. However, his presence was not enough to change the fortunes of the team as Royal live with relegation scares in the premier schools tournament. On this backdrop the 145th Battle of the Blues which began on Thursday presented Jayawardane with the ideal opportunity to make a statement for himself and his team.

To begin with, his decision to bowl first on day one backfired as the Thomians found no threat from Royal bowlers and went on to post 297 runs.

In their reply innings Royal skipper showed resilience when their openers were dismissed in quick succession. Royal lost their first two wickets for one run and a strong partnership was needed to save Royal.

For more than two sessions Jayawardane played sensibly to repair the early damage done by the Thomian speedsters. However, when he was about to enter record books with a captain’s knock, he was snared by Darien Diego to offer Ashen Perera an easy catch. He was dismissed for 92 runs.

He became the first Royal skipper to perish in the 90s at the Big Match. He faced 172 balls and stroked 13 boundaries.

According to Royal statistics he is the tenth Royal batsman to have got out in the 90s while some 12 Thomian batsmen have been out in the 90s.

With an entire day remaining(when this edition went to press) in the Big Match it was difficult to predict whether he had done enough to save Royal. But in the public eye he had erased a part of the disappointment from the Youth World Cup.

The Youth World Cup campaign was a disaster for him. He was out cheaply even against Zimbabwe (7) and Namibia (10) at the World Cup. Whatever the outcome of the Battle of the Blues he will be remembered if he could help his team avoid relegation to Tier B at the end of the season.

Royal players who were out in the 90s at the Battle of the Blues

1930 R. Jeganathan 92

1936 D.C.D. McCarthy 98

1971 G. Pathmanathan 97

1972 S.A. de Silva 91

1997 L. Liyanage 94

1999 R. Peiris 90

2001 M. Thotawilage 95

2005 S. Senarathne 92

2014 H. Ramanayake 96

2024 S. Jayawardane 92