Battle of the North (cricket match)

The Battle of the North is an annual cricket match played between Jaffna Central College and St. John's College, Jaffna, two schools in northern Sri Lanka.[1][2] The first match took place in 1904. The match is also known as the Battle of the Blues and is played over three days.[3][4][5]

Battle of the North
Sport	Cricket
Timeline	1904 – present
Tournament format	Annual 3 day cricket match
Participants	Jaffna Central College St. John's College, Jaffna
Current champion	St. John's
Most successful	Jaffna Central
Most consecutive wins	St. John's

History

The first Battle of the North took place in 1904.[6][7] No matches were played in 1948, 1961, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1996 and 1997.[7][8] The 1967 match was abandoned due to bad weather.[7][8][9] The schools played two matches in 1904, 1908, 1909, 1918, 1919, 1921 and 1922.[10] Central won the 1904 match but it wasn't until 1908 that St. John's won a match.[7][8]

Notable players

Centralites

Johnians

Results

This sports-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

No.	Dates	Venue	Toss	Result	Margin	Refs
1st	1904			Central win
2nd	1904			Central win
3rd	1905
4th	1906			Central win
5th	1907			Draw
6th	1908			St. John's win
7th	1908			St. John's win
8th	1909			St. John's win
9th	1909			Central win
10th	1910			St. John's win
11th	1911
12th	1912
13th	1913
14th	1914
15th	1915			St. John's win
16th	1916			Draw
17th	1917			Central win
18th	1917			Central win
19th	1918			Draw
20th	1918			Central win
21st	1919			Draw
22nd	1920			Central win
23rd	1921			St. John's win
24th	1921			St. John's win
25th	1922			St. John's win
26th	1922			St. John's win
27th	1923			Central win
28th	1924			Draw
29th	1925
30th	1926			St. John's win
31st	1927
32nd	1928			St. John's win
33rd	1929			St. John's win
34th	1930			St. John's win
35th	1931			St. John's win
36th	1932			St. John's win
37th	1933			Central win
38th	1934			St. John's win
39th	1935			Central win
40th	1936			Central win
41st	1937			St. John's win
42nd	1938			St. John's win
43rd	1939			Central win
44th	1940			Central win
45th	1941			St. John's win
46th	1942			St. John's win
47th	1943			St. John's win
48th	1944			St. John's win
49th	1945			St. John's win
50th	1946			St. John's win
51st	1947			St. John's win
	1948			Not played
52nd	1949			Central win
53rd	1950			St. John's win	5 wickets
54th	1951			Central win	7 runs
55th	1952			St. John's win	2 wickets
56th	1953			Central win
57th	1954			Central win	3 wickets
58th	1955			Draw
59th	1956			Draw
60th	1957			Draw
61st	1958			St. John's win	An innings and 21 runs
62nd	1959			St. John's win	8 wickets
63rd	1960			Central win	73 runs
	1961			Not played
64th	1962			Draw
65th	1963			Draw
66th	1964			Draw
67th	1965			St. John's win	8 wickets
68th	1966			Draw
69th	1967			Abandoned
70th	1968			St. John's win	An innings and 4 runs
71st	1969			Draw
72nd	1970			Central win	An innings and 4 runs
73rd	1971			Draw
74th	1972			Draw
75th	1973			Draw
76th	1974			Draw
77th	1975			Draw
78th	1976			Draw
79th	1977			Draw
80th	1978			Draw
81st	1979			Draw
82nd	1980			Draw
83rd	1981			Draw
84th	1982			Draw
85th	1983			Draw
86th	1984			Draw
	1985			Not played
	1986			Not played
	1987			Not played
	1988			Not played
	1989			Not played
87th	1990			St. John's win	An innings and 26 runs
	1991			Not played
88th	1992			Draw
89th	1993			Draw
90th	1994			Central win	7 wickets
91st	1995			Draw
	1996			Not played
	1997			Not played
92nd	1998	Central ground		Draw		[11]
93rd	20 March 1999 – 21 March 1999	Central ground		Draw		[12]
94th	2000			Draw
95th	2001			Draw
96th	2002			Central win	6 wickets
97th	2003			Draw
98th	18 March 2004 – 20 March 2004			Abandoned - St. John's win
99th	17 March 2005 – 19 March 2005	Central ground		Draw		[13]
100th	9 March 2006 – 11 March 2006	Central ground		Draw		[14][15]
101st	15 March 2007 – 17 March 2007	Central ground		Central win	10 wickets	[16]
102nd	24 April 2008 - 25 April 2008	Central ground		Central win	An innings and 133 runs	[17][18]
103rd	26 February 2009 – 28 February 2009	Central ground	St. John won the toss and elected to field	Central win	222 runs	[19][20]
104th	25 February 2010 – 27 February 2010	Central ground		Central win	4 wickets	[21][22][23]
105th	10 March 2011 – 11 March 2011	Central ground	Central won the toss and elected to field	Central win	2 wickets	[24][25][26][27]
106th	8 March 2012 – 10 March 2012	Central ground	Central won the toss and elected to bat	Draw		[28][29][30][31][32]
107th	14 March 2013 – 16 March 2013	Central ground	Central won the toss and elected to field	Draw		[33][34][35]
108th	13 March 2014 – 15 March 2014	Central ground		Abandoned - St. John's win		[36][37]
109th	5 March 2015 – 7 March 2015	Central ground		St. John's win	84 runs	[38][39][40]
110th	10 March 2016 – 12 March 2016	Central ground	Central won the toss and elected to bat	Draw		[41][42][43]
111th		Central ground	Central won the toss and elected to bat	St.John's win	an innings and 7 runs

Limited over match

The two schools have also played an annual 50 over match since 2003.

This sports-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

No.	Dates	Venue	Toss	Result	Margin	Refs
1st	18 March 2003	Central ground		St. John's win	52 runs[lower-alpha 1]
2nd	25 March 2004	Central ground		St. John's win	57 runs
3rd	2005	Central ground		St. John's win	3 wickets
4th	2006	Central ground		St. John win	Parabola system
5th	2007	Central ground		Central win	6 wickets
6th	2008	Central ground		Central win	1 wicket
7th	2009	Central ground		Central win	88 runs
8th	2010	Central ground	Central won the toss and elected to bat	Central win	155 runs	[45]
9th	19 March 2011	St. John's ground		St. John's win	5 wickets	[46]
10th	17 March 2012	St. John's ground	Central won the toss and elected to bat	Central win	62 runs[lower-alpha 2]	[48][49]
11th	23 March 2013	St. John's ground	St. John's won the toss and elected to field	Central win	34 runs	[50][51]
12th	5 April 2014	St. John's ground	St. John's won the toss and elected to bat	St. John's win	139 runs	[52]
13th	14 March 2015			Central win		[53]
14th	19 March 2016	St. John's ground	St.John's won the toss and elected to field	St.John's win	5 wickets	[54]

Notes

1. Another source states that St. John's won by 44 runs.[44]
2. Another source states that Central won by 65 runs.[47]

References

• "Battle of the North 2015" (PDF). St. John's College, Jaffna. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.

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