Century old cricket legacy transformed to a ‘Big Match’
In celebration of 125 years of cricket legacy between Wesley College and St. Benedict’s College, schools launched an annual Bens-Wesley cricket encounter, which becomes the latest addition to the local ‘Big Match’ fleet.
At a launched held on Wednesday at the Hilton Colombo amidst a gathering of schools administrations, old boys of both the schools and the other dignitaries.
On this occasion, the prestigious shield and the cup were unveiled with the jerseys, which were uncovered by Jobbs Active of Fashion Bug, the official clothing partner.
Wesley is led by Thenuka Perera and St. Benedict’s led by Kaviru Perera battle the two-day encounter for the Rev. James Cartman Cup, named in honour of the former Wesley College Principal, on April 23 and 24 at St. Benedict’s ground in Kotahena. Following that, they will battle in the one-day encounter for the Rev. Bro. Luke Gregory Shield, named in the memory of a former Director of St. Benedict’s College, on May 8 at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo. Both the games will be organised by the BWC committee.
With more than 300 years of combined history, the two schools have prominent archives in cricket. In pre-Test era, they have produced number of top class cricketers to the nation. Back in 1896, both the teams met for the first time on the field at the Racquet Ground in Pettah, which ended with Wesley College winning by 64 runs. Then they met again in 1913, after which they played annually till the World War II. After three decades, they resumed their annual duel in 1975 and continued uninterruptedly.
Both the captains vowed to maintain the spirit of the game throughout the entire games and play them with a firm hand. With both teams having a moderate season this year, they perceived that it would be a tough tussle for both sides and ensured to put their utmost to take the shield and the cup to their respective schools.
In order to enliven the two-day encounter, the BWC has determined to play it under couple of new regulations – the first innings of each team will be limited to 65 overs and eligibility of using the new ball is reduced to the 50th over.
“We’ve brought the change in new ball to bring some spice up in the game. We want to encourage more fast bowling since school cricket lacks genuine fast bowling nowadays. Most of the time, first 10 overs would be bowled by the fast bowlers and the rest would taken over by spinners. We wanted to try something new,” stated Farveez Maharoof, the Technical Head of the encounters, also a former cricketer of Wesley College and the national team.
Besides the inaugural initiation of the encounters, no crowd will be allowed to be present at the ground due to health guidelines issued by the authorities. Nevertheless, the BWC has made arrangements to broadcast the encounters live on television and the Quadrangle YouTube channel.
Melwa has come forward as the platinum sponsor, while McLaren’s Group signed as the gold sponsor. Marine Square Uptown Colombo, Cycletech, D’las, Commercial Bank and Kotmale are the silver sponsors for these historical encounters.