Battle of the Blues, an annual cricket encounter between the Hartley College PPA-UK and the Jaffna Hindu College OBA-UK was held at Frimley Lodge Park, Camberley on 17th July 2021. This year, the BOB was organised by HCPPA-UK during an extraordinary circumstance by adhering government’s Covid-19 guidelines.
The 35 overs match started at 12.00pm with ceremonial hosting of both schools’ flags and the Union Jack. JHC-OBA won the toss and elected to bat first. They have scored 163 runs for 7 wickets in 35 overs. HCPPA team bowled well by the opening bowlers Vykunthan and Mukunthan followed by Sivaraj, Prasanna Jeyavarman, Nirojan and Satheeshram to restrict their score within the par score. Satheeshram bowled well to become the highest wicket-taker with an excellent economy rate.
In the 164-run chase, HCPPA started slowly but steadily. Both openers Kokulavarathan & Umakaran laid a strong foundation and continued by match-winning partnership of Kokulavarathan and Satheeshram. Kokulavarathan batted amazingly and scored 56 runs to claim the best batsman award. JHC-OBA started to pull the game towards their side by bowling some tidy overs during the overs 23 to 30 overs. This forced HCPPA to score more than 10 runs per over in the last 5 overs if they want to win the game, obviously a tough target. However, HCPPA Captain Jeyavarman batted responsibly and scored match-winning 2 sixes and this reduced the requirement to 9 runs at the last over. Jeyavarman hit the first ball over the rope for a six and this eased the nail-biting pressure. HCPPA reached the winning target of 164 while 3 balls spare and only loosing 3 wickets. The BOB memorial trophy, named after Late Mr.T.S.Perinpanathan of Jaffna Hindu college OBA and the Late Mr.R.Raveendralingham of Hartley college PPA, was won by Hartley college PPA after 11 years.
HCPPA-UK would like to express its sincere thanks to the Jaffna Hindu OBA-UK for accepting our invitation and cooperating with us to organise such a wonderful cricket match during these unusual times. HCPPA-UK would also like to thank our cricket team and supporters.
Player of the Match: Jeyavarman (HCPPA-UK).
Best Bowler: Sangith (JHC-OBA)
Best Batsman: Kokulavarathan (HCPPA-UK)
Team HCPPA-UK:
Players: Jeyavarman (captain), Mukunthan (vice-captain), Kogulavarathan, Satheeshram, Vykunthan, Mayooran, Senthooran, Vinothkumar, Rajanikanthan, Prasanna, Umakaran, Nirojan, Vijitharan, Sivaraj, Jenagan.
Representatives: Kokulan and Kanendran (Team manager).
