Kandurata come out as hot favourites

MAS Holdings Kandurata Xl led by Kumar Sangakkara come out as hot favourites to lift the five team contested inter-provincial trophy limited overs title when they confront Lanka Bell Wayamba led by Mahela Jayawardena in the final showdown due to get underway today at the SSC grounds from 10.00 a.m. onwards.

The two week tournament which got underway on December 29 last year saw the Kandurata dominating since they began their campaign against Lexmark Basnahira South on January 2 and showed that they were the side to beat which none of the teams were able to do.

Their approach was professional as seen in all the four games they played. In the first game they were guided by skipper Sangakkara who slammed a 109 to overcome Basnahira South chasing 272 for victory.

Then again Sangakkara showed his prowess with the bat with another fine knock of 96 against E-Wis Basnahira North whom they convincingly defeated by 192 runs. Their third encounter saw them overcoming Hirdaramani Ruhuna by 43 runs in the D/L method. In all these games they made formidable scores of over 275 runs with the highest of the tournament of 296 for 6 against Basnahira North. In their last league match Kandurata defeated Wayamba by eight wickets thus accumulating 18 points from the four matches.

It was sheer team effort that saw them make their wins look easy. Apart from skipper Sangakkara who is the top scorer of the tournament with 251 runs there was support coming from opener Tharanga Paranavithana, Thilan Samaraweera, Chinthaka Jayasinghe and Chamara Kapugedera who made useful contributions in all the games.

The bowling department too made their contributions with pacies Thilina Mirando the top wicket taker with 11 wickets from four matches along with Akalanka Ganegama and Kaushalya Weeraratne with eight a piece being the top three bowlers with spin ace Murathilaran to support them. Of course the batting and bowling department of the Kandurata side is going to be too hot to handle for Wayamba.

Wayamba on the other hand cannot be satisfied with their performance. Though they started the campaign in style with a 127 run win over Basnahira South they fell back in their next game against Basnahira North losing by 100 runs. Then in a rain curtailed match managed to overcome Ruhuna by 39 runs before losing by eight wickets to the opposition that they will be meting today.

Of their batsmen only Jehan Mubarak with 189 runs and Mahela Udawatte with 118 runs have shown some consistency with the others being unable to make useful contributions. The failure of skipper Jayawardena 49 from four matches and Michael Vandort 12 from two matches too has affected their progress and a better performance is expected from them today. The bowling too has been mediocre as apart from Ajantha Mendis who has taken eight scalps in four matches, the big names Chanaka Welagedera and Farveez Maharoof who played in only three matches being unable to make any headway.

So it’s going to be an acid test for Wayamba as Kandurata is coming into the final with loads of confidence and with one aim to add to their cupboard the limited overs trophy having taken the league trophy when it was last held in 2004.

MAS Holdings Kandurata – Kumar Sangakkara (Capt), Muttiah Muralitharan, Tharanga Paranavithana, Chamara Kapugedera, Sajith Fernando, Thilan Samaraweera, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Kanchana Gunawardena, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Nadeera Nawela, Thilina Mirando, Akalanka Ganegama, Chaminda Vidanapathirana, Nishitha Rupasinghe, Suraj Mohamed.

Lanka Bell Wayamba – Mahela Jayawardena (Capt), Jehan Mubarak, Michael Vandort, Mahela Udawatte, Jeewantha Kulatunga, Lanka de Silva, Sameera Soysa, Harsha Vithana, Shalika Karunanayake, Farveez Maharoof, Ishara Amarasinghe, Chanaka Welagedera, Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis, Kaushal Lokuarachchi.