Some of the oldest schools' big matches in the island kicked off yesterday (12) in Colombo, Kandy and Jaffna with 3-days of action packed cricket on offer.

147th Battle of the Blues – At stumps on day-1, the holders of the D.S. Senanayake Shield, S. Thomas’ batting first ended at 203/4 in 90 overs. Batting sensation Jaden Amaraweera top scored with 52 closely followed by skipper Avinash Fernando’s 50. Duluth Gunaratne added 44. Gagan Gamage, Himaru De Silva and Ramiru Perera picked up a wicket each. Today (13) is day-2 of the historic Royal-Thomian at the SSC.

109th Northern Battle of the Golds – Batting first in their home grounds in Vaddukoddai,  Jaffna College were restricted to 176 all out with the St. Patrick’s bowling attack rattled through the wicket. Hamish Harmishon was the standout batter for Jaffna College with a splendid 61. Skipper Robinson Uthayakumar Johnson scored a valuable 41. Uthajaraja Kenreksan added 31. For St. Patrick’s Mathiyalagan Steef Adhithya pocketed 4/25, Japinson Kemishan 3/29 and skipper Premanayakam Mathusan took 1/23. At stumps day-1 St. Patrick’s were 40 for no loss in 9 overs. 

107th Hill Country Battle of the Blues – At the Asgiriya Stadium, the visiting Antonians were suffering right from the start and were bundled out for a paltry 157 in 57.3 overs. Sisal Hemaka played a solo knock of 64 to save the pride of St. Anthony’s along with Kaushika Kumarasinghe the captain adding 44. Kanilka Anthony was the pick of the bowlers for Trinity scalping 4 crucial wickets. Dinitha Siriwardena and Chaniru Senaratna picked up two. At the close of play on day-1, Trinity in their reply were 66/3 with skipper Dimantha Mahavithana leading from the front with a brilliant half century, not out at 52. Sisal Hemaka, Kaveesha Samarathunga and Dasun Waliyanga picked up a wicket each.