Going down the memory lane from the days of Under-13 Cricket till the 1st XI team, there was so much pride behind our backs to carry out to the middle. Wearing the College colours regardless of the age category was such an esteemed honour that I held as a schoolboy.

As a young kid growing with the passion for sports and especially falling in love with the game of cricket, I would say I was privileged enough to have got the opportunity to get into S.Thomas’ College Mt. Lavinia.

One of the best days in my school career was getting the opportunity to represent College at the big match as a 15 year old youngster. It was a dream come true moment which I had as a kid in middle school. Special credit to my dad for taking me to see every big match since Grade-1 and creating that passion in me to wear the blue, black and blue blazer.

As a schoolboy I had the rare opportunity to witness all aspects of results that can happen at a match during my involvement in the middle from the 137th to the 140th Battle of the Blues. I was a part of losing teams, games drawn and finally at the last big match ended up on the winning side.

What a feeling that was to win the 140th Battle of the Blues. We as a team that year knew this would be our last time. Now or never moment it was. We trained extremely hard as we were all hungry to get our hands on that shield before leaving College. We executed our plans really well and at the end of the 3rd day, we were on the march for a famous Thomian victory. We couldn’t believe our eyes that we did it and paid the debt we owed College. 9 March 2019 will be a day I will remember for the rest of my life. I cannot express how happy the team felt knowing that we were the winners of the Royal-Thomian.

There is a famous saying which goes like this: “Thomians aren’t dead until they are buried” –  take this into mind lads. Fight it hard and make this year a year to remember. That’s the task I leave upon the Thomians. May the better team be crowned as winners at the end of the day.

Esto Perpetua!

(The writer is the 2018 Cricket Captain of S. Thomas’ College and member of the 140th Battle of the Blues winning Thomian outfit)

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication