Prince of Wales'-St. Sebastian's Cricket Encounter

Prince of Wales' - St. Sebastian's
Cricket Encounter
Battle of the Golds
Sport Cricket
Timeline 1933 – present
Tournament format Annual 2 day cricket match (Test match)
Annual 1 day ODI match
Participants Prince of Wales' College
St. Sebastian's College

The Prince of Wales' - St. Sebastian's Cricket Encounter (The Battle of the Golds) is an annual cricket match played between Prince of Wales' College and St. Sebastian's College since 1933.[1][2] It is known as The Battle of the Golds due to the colours of the two school's flags i.e. Purple, Gold and Maroon of Prince of Wales' College and Green, White & Gold of St. Sebastian's College.

History

The encounter is considered to be one of the oldest big matches in Sri Lanka as it dates back to 1933. The first match in the sequence was played in 1933 under captain, Eugine Silva of St. Sebastian’s College and Duncan Fernando of Prince of Wales College.[3]

Since the start the Cambrians have six wins while the Sebastianites have won thrice in the series with the rest ending in draws. St Sebastian’s had their last victory in 2011 under the guidance of Captain Saneetha De Mel and was unable to take 2012 which ended in a draw.[4] Prince of Wales’s has not won a match since 1977. The Sebastiaites last won in 2011 under the captaincy of Sanitha de Mel.[5]

Among the outstanding performances in the encounter Nilantha Kopage from Prince of Wales holds the record for the highest run scorer in a match with 179 not out in 1991. For the Sebastian’s Nalin Peiris was a highest scorer with two centuries in years 1957 and 1958. Among the leading wicket takers, the record for most number of wickets in the series is held by Roger Wijesuriya takin 22 wickets for St Sebastians from 1975 to 1979.[6]

Venues

References

  1. ↑ Rathnayake, Samiddha (8 March 2009). "Time for a winning result". The Nation (Sri Lanka).
  2. ↑ Amit, M. Shamil (11 March 2010). "60th Battle of the Gold's". The Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
  3. ↑ Mendis, Dilwin (4 March 2012). "Keen contest expected in St. Sebastian's – Prince of Wales 'Big Match'". Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka).
  4. ↑ Mendis, Dilwin (11 March 2009). "59th Battle of the Golds on March 13 and 14: Cambrians and Sebs out to play positive cricket". Daily News (Sri Lanka).
  5. ↑ Fernando, Reemus (9 March 2007). "57th 'Battle of the Golds' a star-studded show". The Island (Sri Lanka).
  6. ↑ "Battle of the Golds – The Moratuwa Madness". Retrieved 7 February 2015.