Thurstan College and Isipathana College will come out for the 60th year in their annual cricket encounter that begins in an unusually friendly manner and have named it the Battle of the Brothers to be played on February 24 and 25 at the SSC ground Maitland Place.
This game will be played for the Blackham Wijewardana Trophy.
A joint parade between the two brother schools has been organized to strengthen the brotherhood of both schools on February 23. This is done to help conclude the match successfully without any type of questionable incidents.
Hence the reason why this encounter is called the Battle of the Brothers as the principals of both schools want to ensure that brotherly feelings will prevail during the two day encounter.
Thurstan have won this encounter six times while Isipathana have won only on four occasions. The match has ended 48 times in draws and it was not played on one occasion.
The match is an experience that the two principals always look forward to with great enthusiasm, especially since they went through this encounter without any spectators over the past two years due to the pandemic.
“I can definitely say that we are two schools that share a brotherly bond. I remember in our rugby match against Royal College students from Thurstan College came and supported us,” said the Isipathana principal Oshara Panditharatne.
“I also remember that during a 50-over final match between Thurstan and St. Peter’s, students from Isipathana came and supported Thurstan carrying the logos of both Colleges,” noted the principal of Thurstan Pramuditha Wickremasinghe.
Panditharatne also mentioned that during the 71 year history of Isipathana there have been only two instances where a player was able to captain both the rugby and cricket teams. This time Isipathana captain Naveen Kanishka is the second player to hold this honour.
These details were revealed by the principals of the two schools during a joint briefing of the media held at the Colts Cricket Club on Tuesday (14).
“There will be cricket fixtures between the Old Boys as well as between the teachers of the two schools also to be played. This is another symbol of brotherhood,” said Wickremasinghe the principal of Thurstan.
Thurstan took major hours in 2019 winning all three encounters, the two-day match, limited overs contest and the T/20 encounter with Sandaru Dias as captain. Isipathana came back to take major honours in the two-day match played in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
The 43rd limited over cricket encounter between the two schools for the WA de Silva Memorial Trophy will be played on March 5 at the R. Premadasa Stadium.
The T/20 will be played for the 16th time for the Priya Paranavithana trophy on March 25 at Thurstan cricket ground.
This year Thurstan will be captained by wicket-keeper batsman Shanikya Deshapriya while Isipathana will be led by Naveen Kanishka, who is also the captain of their First XV rugby team.
Thurstan skipper Deshapriya said that they have a well balanced team and have done well in the two day encounters so far. They also had only two centurions this season.
Isipathana captain Kanishka said that they have six players who have scored centuries this season and is looking forward to putting the pressure on through their batsmen.
Special awards will be:
* Harsha Deepal memorial Trophy for the man of the match
* Best batsman will get the Jayantha Paranathala Challenge Trophy
* Best bowler will receive the Mahanama Wijeyaratne Challenge Trophy
* Best fielder will receive the Chakrawarthy de Silva Memorial Trophy
* Best striker will receive the Diyanesh Rajaratnam Memorial Trophy
* Best all rounder will receive the Priya de Mel Challenge Trophy