Fierce foes in Rugby; little is known about the Cricket rivalry between these two institutions that goes beyond the oval ball game. It boasts of the second longest streak in inter school cricket and remains as the 3rd oldest behind Royal-Thomian and Royal-Wesley encounters. By tradition, the game against Trinity is the last outing for the Royalists before facing rivals S. Thomas’ at the big match.
With the 124th encounter scheduled to kick off at Reid Avenue on the 27th and 28th of February 2017, let’s go on a journey of memorable moments, interesting stories, facts and figures from the past.
Royal College played their first encounter with Trinity College in the year 1893, the same year they began their rivalry against Wesley College. It was the first time Trinity played Cricket against another institution. The inaugural encounter was played at Kandy Recreation Club Grounds where the Royalists won by 76 runs. Trinity had to wait for their first triumph until 1896 which was a 9-wicket win following three previous losses. The first draw in the series came in 1897 which was followed by 5 consecutive wins by the Royalists from 1898 to 1902. Trinity’s second win came in 1903 before Royal dominated much of the next few years. Trinity won three games in a row from 1909 to 1911 and once again four wins in a row from 1913 to 1916. In 1919 it was a tie between the two schools. From 1921 to 1927, the boys from the hill country dominated the encounter with 7 wins in a row. From 1928 to 1940, Royal claimed 8 wins to Trinity’s 3 wins. The early 1940s saw a set of stalemates while Trinity won in 1945, which was to be their only win for the next 53 years. Between 1945 and 1998, Royal won 19 times.
So far, the tally stands at 46 wins for Royal and 25 wins for Trinity. 51 games have ended in a draw alongside a solitary tie. The 2001 encounter was not played between these two prestigious schools.
The centenary game was played at the Asgiriya Stadium in 1992. The ceremonious occasion was graced by both Principals, while College anthems were sung and flags were hoisted. The home side was led by Kelum Edirisinghe while Tharaka Subasinghe captained Royal. Winning the toss, Royal piled up 204/6 on a perfect batting track. After losing an early wicket, skipper Tharaka Subasinghe and Dinesh Dharmaratne dazzled with a 102-run stand for the second wicket. Subasinghe’s quick fire 62 featured 8 boundaries while Dharmaratne made 52 to brace the innings. In response, Trinity lost both openers Inok Nanayakkara and Himseh Gunatilake, reeling at 5/2 when U Chandrakumar and deputy Amil Ramanathan set up a 57 run partnership, before captain Kelum Edirisinghe later fused in with a 50, taking the hosts to 198 from an onerous position of 94/6. For Royal, paceman H. Ariyaratne took 4 for 44. Royal at the end of play, was on 139 for the loss of 4 wickets in 51 overs. Dharmaratne, who made 52 in the first essay, throttled his way to an unbeaten 76 which saw 10 lightning hits to the boundary.
In a rare moment, Yasas Dharmaratne of Royal, made an unbeaten 135 in 1995, carrying on the bat during the entire innings.
The Royal-Trinity encounter in 1996 took place at Peradeniya University Grounds due to the Asgiriya Stadium being taken over to host the World Cup. In the absence of their regular captain Janaka Seneviratne, the Trinitians were led by Kumar Sangakkara. Spearheaded by Kavinda Nanayakkara’s 61 and skipper Anushka Polonowita’s 41, Royal made 199 before bowling out Trinity for 194. Polonowita took 5 for 61. In the second innings, the visitors made a rapid 145/7 (Polonowita 65) before initiating a sporty declaration, setting a gettable target of 151 to win off 38 overs. However Anooka Samarakkody took the game away from them, taking 5 for 30 with his pace which eventually shot out Trinity for 85, sealing a momentous win for Royal. The game was perhaps best remembered for two blinders taken by deputy Yasas Dharmaratne at Gully to dismiss opener Roshan Rafayal and later Kumar Sangakkara for a duck which set the tone for a right Royal victory.
A thriller in 1998 saw Trinity beating Royal after 53 years. The result was possible with two sporty declarations but above all, the game was etched in memories and hailed for a great gesture of sportsmanship by Royal. Thushan Amarasuriya scored 119 as Royal declared at 259/7 before bowling out Trinity for 165. The game was brought to life with Royal declaring on 111/3, setting a target of 206 runs in 40 overs. Suranga Maratota, who scored 81 in the first innings, made a blistering 98 to guide the Trinitians to an unlikely 1-wicket win in the penultimate delivery. The sportsmanship by the Royalists narrated its own tale in the tight run chase when skipper Shanaka Perera recalled batsman Rodney Rafayal back after a bat-pad catch was given out by the umpire off Lasantha Liyanage’s bowling. Rodney later joined Kaushal Weeraratne to score quick runs, taking the game away from Royal.
The next result in the series came in 2007 when Royal recorded a convincing 10-wicket win under the captaincy of Haroon Mowjood. The outright win saw Trinity being bowled out for a mere 61 in the first innings with Charith Fernando (4 for 14) and Lakshitha De Silva (4 for 19) propelling a rampage.
In 2009, the star studded Royal side which bagged 9 wins for the season, defeated Trinity by 64 runs at Reid Avenue. However, Trinitian R. Jaleel steamrolled the home side with a staggering 9 for 19 which bowled them out for 157 during the second essay. Trinity claimed their first win against Royal after 12 years with a victory by six wickets in 2010.
In 2014, Royal became the first team to beat Trinity in a 1xi game after 5 seasons. Interestingly, they were the last team to defeat Trinity (2009) as well, before the 5 year long unbeaten streak. Their Asgiriya stronghold was breached by the visitors with a massive 130-run win. Led by Chamika Karunaratne, the Royalists subdued the home team for 104, in response to their 179. Scoring another 193/5 at declaration, a 268 run target was set for the hosts. Despite Ron Chandraguptha’s valiant 80, Devind Pathmanathan’s 5 for 27 saw them being all out for 138 giving a memorable win for the Royalists at Kandy.
Back to back wins were made, when Royal, under Harith Samarasinghe secured a victory by innings and 58 runs in 2015. After amassing 309/9, Royal dismissed the visitors for 146 and 105 respectively. Lasith Embuldeniya took a match bag of 9 for 82.
Trinity won last year’s encounter by innings and 2 runs. Bowling out the visitors for 199 runs, Trinity stockpiled 403/8 with N. Weerasinghe scoring 112. A sudden collapse in the second innings saw the Royalists being dismissed for 202. Duvindu Thilakaratne took 6 for 55.
In the series, the highest score was made by Sumithra Warnakulasuriya in 1981 (181 runs) while L. Bulankulame’s 10 for 59 in 1909 remains the best bowling performance in an innings.
The age old rivalry between these two sides is never been in short of wins, thrills and spills. The rich traditions will continue for many years, creating memories of many Royalists and Trinitians both young and old.
(The feature was compiled with highest difficulty due to the unavailability of fact and figures and honest efforts have been made to provide comprehensive information for the reader. Information was gathered from various sources and the writer apologize for any inconvenience caused by the accuracy of information. Special courtesy to former cricketer Yasas Dharmaratne for providing assistance with old souvenirs, stats, facts and figures for the writer)
Sources referred to –
http://archives.dailynews.lk/2013/02/22/spo02.asp
Royal-Thomian Souvenirs – 137th and 134th Battle of the Blues
