The sixth annual Masters Royal-Thomian Cricket Encounter will be played on 9 November at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium (Oval) commencing at 10 am.
The Thomian and Royal Masters teams comprise of well known talented cricketers who have represented their college teams, clubs and Sri Lanka.
There are five players who have represented Sri Lanka at the Masters World Cup, organised by International Masters Cricket (IMC), who hold the franchise for Masters Cricket worldwide.
Johann Pieris captained Sri Lanka at the inaugural Over 60’s Masters World Cup in Australia in 2022 and together with Dharsha Abeyawardena and Lasantha Perera represented Sri Lanka at the second Over 60 Masters World Cup in Chennai in February 2024.
Vajira Wijegunawardena represented Sri Lanka in the Over 50 Masters World Cup in Cape Town in 2023 and Deepal Ahangama in the Over 70 Masters World Cup in the UK in July this year.
Almost all the other players from both schools represent popular Masters Teams in Sri Lanka and overseas.
Masters cricket is gaining popularity in Sri Lanka and in the last three years we have seen many club teams being formed. It will be good to see a Masters League being established in Sri Lanka next year.
The Thomian Masters Team comprise of hard hitting batters such as Vajira Wijegunawardena, Johann Peiris, Naresh Adikaram along with Anura Bulankulame, Chaminda Silva, Arjuna Waidyasekera, Ramesh Wannakuwatte, Ravi Kumarasinghe, Suresh Bulankulame, and Siva Rajan.
Royal Masters comprise of dynamic batters Shezard Nizar, Nuwan Perera, Chinthaka Edirimanne along with Amal Karunaratne, Nalliah Devarajan, Chanaka Liyanage, Manju Ariyaratne, Dharsha Abeyawardena, Lasantha Perera, and Gihan Shiromal.
In the five encounters played so far, Royal Masters have won three and the Thomian Masters have won two.
The Thomian Masters won last year’s encounter which was played at the Bloomfield Grounds.
In the past encounters, there have been excellent performances from both teams. There have been three centurions namely, Vajira Wijegunawardena and Naresh Adikaram for the Thomian Masters and Chintaka Edirimanne for Royal Masters and ten half centurions namely, Anura Bulankulame, Chaminda Silva, Ramesh Wannakuwatte, Mahinda Halangoda, Nishantha Rajapaksha for Thomian Masters and late Zulki Hameed, Nalliah Devarajan, Navin Samarakoon, Chinthaka Edirimanne, and Lasantha Perera for Royal Masters.
The main wicket takers in past encounters have been Mahinda Halangoda, Anura Bulankulama, Ishak Sahabdeen, Thiran Thenabadu, and Nishantha Rajapaksha for Thomian Masters and late Zulki Hamid , Sisila Indraratne, Hiran Mallawathanthri, Nalliah Devarajan, Shezard Nizar, Chinthaka Edirimanne, and Sajith Liyanage for Royal Masters.
There will be new faces in both the Thomian and Royal camps this year who will be debuting in Masters Roy-Tho 2024.The match will be live telecast on Masters Roy-Tho YouTube Channel.
Thomian Masters Squad: Johann Pieris (Capt.), Deepal Ahangama, Vajira Wijegunawardane, Naresh Adikaram, Anura Bulankulame , Chaminda Silva, Arjuna Waidyasekera, Ramesh Wannakuwatte, Ravi Kumarasinghe, Suresh Bulankulame (WK), Siva Rajan, Dammika Bulankulame, Amal Ekanayake, Sajith Gunaratne, Duminda Abeytunga
Royal Masters Squad: Amal Karunaratne (Capt.), Nuwan Perera (V.Capt.), Nalliah Devarajan, Chinthaka Edirimanne, Shezard Nizar, Lasantha Perera, Chanaka Liyanage, Gamini Perera, Sisila Indraratne, Dharsha Abeywardena (WK), Manju Ariyaratne (WK), Shyamal Perera, Gihan Shiromal, Prashantha Mahadevan