Chammika Weerasinghe, Head of Marketing, HNB and Supun Dias, Head of Business Development, HNB handing over sponsorship cheque to B A Abeyratne, Principal, Royal College, Colombo and Rev. Fr. Marc Billimoria, Warden, S Thomas’ College, Mt  Lavinia overseen by Dayasiri Jayasekera, MP – Minister of Sports.   Also in picture from left – Mahesh Nanayakkara, Co-Secretary, Royal -Thomian Match Organizing Committee 2017 (RC), Eransaka Perera, Co-Chairman, Royal-Thomian Match Organising Committee 2017 (STC), Ashan De Silva, Co-Chairman, Royal - Thomian Match Organising Committee 2017 (RC) and  Kumudu Warnakulasuriya, Co-Secretary, Royal-Thomian Match Organising Committee 2017 (STC),

Sri Lanka’s premier private commercial bank, HNB PLC came forward to serve as Official Banker to the country’s blue ribbon cricket encounter, 138th Battle of the Blues, for the second consecutive year. Taking place at the SSC Grounds from 9-11 March 2017, the match between Royal College and St. Thomas’ College is the second longest uninterrupted cricket series in the world, second only to the annual encounter played between St. Peters’ College, Adelaide and Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, Australia, which began just one year earlier than the Royal-Thomian series. The very first Battle of the Blues took place at the Galle Face Green in the present location of the Taj Samudra Hotel, and commenced what has ever since been a hotly contested game between two of the country’s oldest and most respected schools.