The 141st Battle of the Blues Cricket Encounter took place on the 12th, 13th, and 14th of March 2020. The boys from Royal, who were undefeated in the season thus far, were looking set to pry the shield back from Thomian clutches from the onset itself, but the focus and determination from the Thomian side was not to be underestimated. Both sides boasting a batting lineup that extended until the 7th wicket, the stage was set to be a long and arduous battle. Commence Day 1: S. Thomas’ College win the toss and elect to bat first. The side looks absolutely set, with the opening pair Dilmin Rathnayake & Shalin De Mel cruising to 49 without much trouble, until Kavindu Pathiratne broke through with Ratnayake’s wicket, trapping him in front of middle stump for LBW. He was quickly followed by Ravindu de Silva, removed from his crease by part-timer Kamil Mishara. However, the next pair of De Mel and R. Fernando set a fine stand, taking the score up to 156 before De Mel pulled one to deep square leg, ending his top-scoring knock of 85. Kishan Munasinghe was bowled the very next ball, leaving Thora in a precarious position. R. Fernando remained at the crease, scoring a well played 70, until he was removed by fresher Dasis Manchanayake. Umayanga Suwaris was also quickly removed, however, the pair of Gavin Botheju and Vice Captain Manisha Rupasinghe showed an amazing display of discipline and focus, playing until the end of the first day. St. Thomas’ College started the second day in much the same vein as the first: with solid defensive strokes and caution. Thora moved to 294, with Gavin Botheju reaching a well deserved 50, when Rupasinghe was removed by a runout courtesy of Ahan Wickramasinghe. This triggered the fall of two more wickets, with Gavin Botheju also getting run out and Yasiru Rodrigo becoming Kavindu Pathiratne’s 3rd victim of the match. At 310, S. Thomas’ College were 9 wickets down with fresher Caniston Gunaratnam and skipper Thevin Eriyagama at the crease. The innings was looking wrap up quickly, but the last wicket pair proved to be incredibly frustrating for the Royalists, with Eriyagama moving to 47, taking S. Thomas’ College to the final first innings score of 369 before the final wicket fell. Royal moved into their first innings batting with a tough task on their hands, having to reach a total of 369 with just one and a half days of play remaining. The opening pair of Kawshan Kulasooriya and Kamil Mishara put up a first wicket stand of 61, until Kulasooriya edged to first slip off Munasinghe’s bowling. Mishara followed, and then last year’s captain Kavindu Madarasinghe was removed by the Thomian captain. Royal was looking in major trouble when Ahan Wickramasinghe fell for 24, leaving Royal on 123 for 4. Isiwara Dissanayake and Kavindu Pathiratne were still at the crease when the day’s play ended. Start of Day 3 – the pair of Pathiratne and Dissanayake held on until 169, when Suwaris got one to dip and bowled Pathiratne around his legs. Dissanayake was joined at the crease by captain Thevindu Senaratne, who also quickly departed after attempting to heave a six off Suwaris’s bowling, leaving Royal in the precarious position of 177 for 6. Manchanayake and Dissanayake managed to reach the 200 mark, but Dissanayake was dismissed after a fine knock of 42. After that, it was all Dasis Manchanayake, as the fresher withstood the pace and spin onslaught, finally reaching his half century mark with a fine boundary off of the Thomian captain. With that, Royal took the decision to declare, despite still trailing by 80 runs, giving S. Thomas’ College a challenge. Excitement started rising in the SSC as 5 quick wickets fell before the Thomian side reached the 100 run mark, but the surprise victory was not to be, as Rayan Fernando scored and Gavin Botheju once again stayed at the crease and played until the end of the match, allowing S. Thomas’ to retain the shield. At the awards ceremony, the award for the best fielder was given to Ahan Wickramasinghe for his 2 run out efforts, the award for best bowler to Gishan Balasooriya for his 7 wickets in the match, the award for best batsman going to Rayan Fernando, and finally the man of the match award to Shalin De Mel for his magnificent top-scoring knock of 85 in the first innings. And with that, came the end of the 141st Battle of the Blues: the first for some, the last for many, and an experience for all.