Big Match Archives

Flashback 60 years ago to 1964 – to that thrilling victory – marking the 60th Anniversary of the famous 1964 Thomian Victory at the 85th Battle of the Blues, under the inspirational captaincy of late Premalal Goonesekere- by Ravi Rudra (Auckland, NZ) Flashback 60 years ago to 1964 – to that thrilling victory Delighted to share a report to mark the 60th Anniversary of the famous 1964 Thomian Victory at the 85th Battle of the Blues, under the inspirational captaincy of late Premalal Goonesekere. 1964 was a very special year for STC as we won both the Big Match and regained the Senior Tarbat for Public Schools Athletics after 11 years – both previously won in 1953. In the same year (1964) we also won the Stubbs Shield Boxing Title, the Rugby encounter against Royal to win the Gooneratne Trophy and swept the board winning almost every single championship titles and trophies. ...

BEYOND THE CALL OF COACHES – By Capt Elmo Jayawardena Winds of College cricket are blowing right across the island, and Colombo is rocking with the fanfare of trumpets and unfurling flags heralding the ‘Big Match’ fever. Outstations too have their own carnival cricket with the likes of ‘Battle of the Golds’ in Moratuwa, the ‘Mangosteen Match’ of Kalutara plus another 100 such encounters, filling the weekend timetables. People arrive from all parts of the world to participate in this pulsating event. Conversations become rich with cricketing anecdotes. First to broach the subject with me a week ago was Dr Ranjith Amarasekara who batted ‘one down’ in the big match played under the mercurial Michael Tissera. That’s going pretty far back but, interestingly, still in vogue, when talking ‘Big Matches’. Who scored a century and who missed catches are common ‘Royal-Thomian’ chitchat. Who was the ‘Bok-ku man’ that frequently sent ...