John Keells come out looking for revenge
John Keells Group will be looking for sweet revenge when they confront MAS Active Trading in the 22nd Singer-MCA Premier League, Knock-out Tournament 2014 Final today at the MCA Grounds, commencing 10.00 am.
This will be the very first Final in the Singer-MCA Series to be played at the MCA Grounds since its inception in 1993.
The previous 21 finals had taken place at R. Premadasa Stadium (the Inaugural Match in 1993), P. Sara Oval (seven times), SSC (five times), NCC (three times), Colombo Colts (four times) and the Moratuwa Stadium (once).
John Keells, the 2014 Knock-out runners-up who finished fourth in the current league table, lost to MAS Active Trading by seven wickets in their league outing at the MCA Grounds; the match was rain affected and was curtailed to a 20+20.
John Keells entered the final creating a huge upset by eliminating the 2014 dual winner and the current league winner, MAS Intimates Unichela by 26 runs. The match was curtailed to a 30 overs a side match due to wet ground conditions at the MCA.
Keells sent into bat, recovered from 39 for 5 to a formidable 203 for 5 in 30 overs, riding on a belligerent, unbroken 164 runs stand for the sixth wicket between Roshane Silva (94 not out in 90 balls, Inclusive of six sixes and seven fours) and Janaka Gunaratne (86 not out in 47 balls inclusive of seven sixes and equal number of fours)
The other match winner for Keells was their promising opening bowler Maduka Liyanapathiranage (4 for 55) who made early inroads into the strong Unichela batting by getting rid of T.M. Dilshan and Kusal Janith Perera cheaply.
Eventually, Unichela surrendered, scoring 177 runs in 29.1 overs.
MAS Active Trading made it to the Final after a struggle, beating Commercial Credit & Finance by two wickets.
After Sachithra Serasinghe (4 for 23) restricted Commercial Credit & Finance to 225 in 49.1 overs, MAS Active Trading was made to labour for their runs and they managed to sneak through scoring 228/8 in 44.2 overs, thanks to the valiant eighth wicket stand of 70 runs between Dananjaya de Silva (50 not out) and Sachith Pathirana (41).
In the Final, John Keells will look up to their “Young-guns” Ishan Jayaratne, Roshene Silva, Lahiru Milantha and Maduka Liyanapathiranage and the experience of their skipper, Dimuth Karunaratne and former skipper, Janaka Gunaratne to win the title which had eluded them in 1999, 2002 and 2014.
Dimuth Karunaratne, who made his debut for Keells in 2013, was the very first MCA “Emerging Player” that year and Janaka Gunaratne was the “Man of the Tournament in 2012.
Sachithra Senanayake Captain MAS Active Trading
MAS Active Trading, who won the ‘League’ and ended up as knock-out runners-up in 2012, went one step ahead by winning both titles in 2013.
In the Final, MAS Active Trading seemed quite confident to win back the title, as they have beaten Keells hands down in the league round and more over their players such as, Sachithra Serasinghe (335 runs and 13 wickets) Udara Jayasundera (356 runs with a century), Sachith Pathirana (14 wickets) and Dananjaya de Silva and Sachithra Senanayake (making a comeback) are in topping condition.
The Match Referee / Adjudicator is Nalliah Devarajan.
Singer Sri Lanka PLC, Sales director, Kumar Samarasinghe will be the Guest-of-Honour at the opening ceremony; and Commercial and Marketing Director, Mahesh Wijewardene will be the Chief Guest at the post tournament awards presentation.
| The Teams :
John Keells Group from: Dimuth Karunarathne (Captain), Harsha Cooray, Lahiru Milantha, Bhanuka Rajapaksha, Upul Bandara, Janaka Gunaratne, Maduka Liyanapathiranage, Akshu Fernando, Ishan Jayaratne, Upul Indrasiri, Shaminda Eranga, Roshen Silva, Milinda Siriwardena, Khanishka Elvitigala and Madushan Ekanayake. |