The Thomian team is coached by an old boy himself and a successful cricketer in his time, Barney Reid. Barney Reid who hails from a cricketing family is no one new to the field. Barney (Bryan) Reid and his four brothers, Claude, Ronnie (Ronald), Buddy (Barclay), and Johan (Tiny) each represented the S. Thomas’ cricket team at some point during the period 1955 to 1968. In this regard they hold a record of sorts, tied with the De Saram brothers (1879-1885) for the most number of brothers to play for S. Thomas’ College. Barney Reid after taking on the coaching has been on the receiving end due to the poor show by the Thomians during the season. He too will be hoping that the ‘Thomian grit’ will prevail come big match.

The assistant coach of the team will be last year’s head coach Siraz Samsudeen. He is an experienced coach having coached the Royal College second eleven team previously. The Master in charge for the Thomians will be another old boy and keen follower of the game, Lakmal De Soyza who represented the Blues in both cricket and rugby in the late 70’s.

A look at the team – the big five

Dinesh Walpita (c) - Captain of the side and fourth year player, Dinesh Walpita too has not been having the best of season. After coming in to the first eleven side as a promising all rounder he has gone down in performance over the years. Even though he has been having an average run in the season, he is known to come out good in the big match as witnessed in the previous years. Performance vise he has not been in the best of forms during the season and a lot is expected from him during the big match.

Ashen Fernando (vc) - His deputy Ashen Fernando starting off his career as a wicket keeper gave way to Sachin Peiris last year to be the stumper of the side. He too has not been in the greatest of nicks and this has been a telling factor in the performance of the Thomians. He now plays as a pure batsman in the side and his experience will be vital for the Thomians if they are to make any impact in the match.

Small in stature, Ashen is known for his hard hitting and sure packs a punch when batting. He is also an excellent fielder.

Amongst the other seniors is batsman Lalindra Peiris, All rounder Chamod Pathirana and wicket keeper batsman Sachin Peiris.

Lalindra Peiris - Lalindra playing in the middle order has not been in the best of forms lately. He has however made some useful contributions with both bat and ball during the initial part of the first term and will be vital with the bat during the middle over’s.

Last year playing as a fresher, he only managed to score one run after coming in at number nine. He is a vital cog in the Thomian batting and bowling line up and the skipper will have to utilize his capabilities in the big one.

Chamod Pathirana - Chamod Pathirana who was once considered the wonder boy of STC has been one of the few players who have performed on a consistent basis.

Coming in the big arena last year he was expected to deliver but he failed in the first innings but got a valuable 22 runs in the second. A lot can be taken from the youngster and it’s up to the coach and the senior players to take the maximum out of him.

Sachin Peiris - Finally, the last of the coloursman, Sachin Peiris. At the age of 15 he stepped on to the SSC and mesmerized the entire cricketing community showcasing pure grit and composure in the middle against an experienced Royal College bowling line up scoring a patient 59 runs in 172 balls.

He stood his ground and made his presence felt and frustrated the Royal College bowling line up who did not know what hit them after having them starting down the barrel with two more sessions to go in the final day. The man steadied the ship and played a mature innings to save a game which was nearly grasped by Royal.

Fresher’s making their presence felt
Neomal Wickramaskara Neomal the left arm leg spinner of the side is the highest wicket taker capturing over 55 wickets. His lofty leg spin has troubled the most of the batsmen and in some cases has been guilty of been a bit too ordinary with his variations. He shows a lot of potential but is still to hit his peak in the season. The Thomian camp will be hoping that it will be the day of the big match.

The only worry for Neomal will be that, the top batsmen of the Royal side are all left hander’s. The top batsmen consisting of skipper Banuka Rajapakse, Kithruwan Withanage and Ramith Rambukwella. All three batsmen have been having a good season so far with Ramith scoring over a thousand runs. Neomal will have to bring his ‘A’ game when he bowls to these ‘A’ list batsmen at the SSC.

Nuwan Kavinda - There have been a number of fresh blood coming through the ranks and none better than top order batsman Nuwan Kavinda. Kavinda made it a memorable season scoring 1000 runs and is the only batsman from the Thomian camp to reach the magical mark. He has been a towering strength in the Thomian batting line up and has crack a number of half tons and tons during the season. This will be his first outing to the Mecca of grounds in Sri Lanka the SSC wearing the blue black and blue. It will be interesting to see how he goes about his business in the big one.

Brian Dharamadasa – Brian is another fresher who is most likely to be in the final eleven this year. He has been performing in patches during the season and has notched up some noteworthy knock against some top sides including a score of 48 against Trinity College.

The rest of the team looks uncertain and the composition also is not certain as yet. It will be interesting to see what the Thomians go for.

The Thomians last winning the encounter in the year 2007 under the captaincy of all-rounder Ashan Peiris will go in to the game to retain it for yet another year. Thomians though tagged as the underdogs will go in all out to get the better of their arch rivals who are the firm favourites to win the title this year after an absence of 4 years. The Thomians coming in to the game have nothing to lose and just planet to gain.