The 142nd Royal-Thomian cricket encounter will be held on will be held from today (28) until 30 October at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.

It is further reported that the event will be held without any spectators.

The Royal versus S. Thomas’ Cricket Match or better known as the Royal–Thomian, is the second-longest uninterrupted cricket match series in the world, the oldest being the series between St. Peters College and Prince Alfred College, South Australia. The match is even older than the Ashes, having been played for 138 years continuously.

The colourful history that comes hand in hand with the match dates back to 1879, when the original match was played between the Colombo Academy and S. Thomas’ College with schoolmasters participating as well as schoolboys. From 1880 onwards, only schoolboys were allowed to play in the match. It is the only school boy cricket match in Sri Lanka to be played over three days.

The three oldest sporting encounters between the traditional rivals are the Battle of the Blues, the Royal-Thomian Rugby Encounter and the Royal Thomian Regatta.

This annual cricket match is played for the D. S. Senanayake Memorial Shield, and is affectionately known as the Battle of the Blues due to the colours of each school's flag