LB Finance ‘B’ take Mercantile ‘C’ div title
Superb allround performances by Akila Dhananjaya and Gihan de Silva spearheaded LB Finance ‘B’ to a fine 79-runs win on Duckworth/Lewis
Akila Dhananjaya swings one to the boundary during his innings of 71 runs off 80 balls. Pix by Ranjith Perera
method, over Standard Chartered Bank in the final of the 4th BMW-Hyundai Cup, MCA Division ‘C’ 50-over League Tournament 2015, concluded at the MCA grounds last weekend.
The officiating umpires, Sena Nandiweera and Susil Chandrasiri suspended play at 5:00pm due to bad light, with Standard Chartered Bank hopelessly placed at 188/8 in 37 overs, 79 runs behind the D/L par score. As the light did not improve, the umpires called off play at 5.30pm.
LBF ‘B’ won the toss and batted. Skipper, Thushara Alwis, who opened the innings laid the foundation with a power packed half century (51 runs in 39 balls, inclusive of a six and 8 fours).
The in-form batsman, Gihan de Silva (55 runs in 79 balls inclusive of eight hits to the ropes) and former national Twenty20 player, Akila Dhananjaya (71 runs in 80 balls with eight fours) further consolidated the innings putting on 90 runs for the fifth wicket.
With useful contributions coming from Gayath Mendis (30) and Lasantha Perera (36 not out), LBF finished with a formidable 294 for 9 in 50 overs.
The LBF would have finished with a much lesser total if the Bankers held on to the easy catches that came their way; at least eight chances were grassed; the half centurions, Gihan de Silva and Akila Dhananjaya were let off in their early stages; to make matters worse, the bankers gave away 34 runs in extras, including 24 wide deliveries.
Standard Chartered Skipper, Sylwin Jamion finished with 4/71 in 10 overs.
The Bankers with an asking rate of 5.9 runs per over, bravely took up the challenge with openers, Charith Satharasinghe (67 in 81 balls inclusive of a six and seven fours) and the tireless, Bhanuka Adeesha (70 in 70 balls, with 10 hits to the ropes) starting off with an entertaining 140 runs stand in 23 overs (138 balls). At this stage, they were well ahead of the D/L par score.
The match turned on its head when medium pacer, Lasantha Perera got the vital wicket of Satharasinghe and diminutive spinner, Gihan de Silva got rid of Adeesha and the reliable, Aruna Hendricson in quick succession.
From around 4.30pm the light kept on fading and so were the wickets, as the bankers were desperately trying to keep abreast with the D/L requirement.
The menacing, Akila Dhananjaya (9-4-25-3) accounted for the prize scalp of the SCB, skipper, Sylwin Jamion (1) and Gihan de Silva (6-1-34-3) was responsible of getting rid of the former captain, Tharindu Fernando (16).
Gihan de Silva hit 55 for LB Finance
Match referee, former Cambrian, Pemlal Fernando after deliberating, picked Gihan de Silva from LB Finance ‘B’, as his man-of-the-match (55 runs and 3/34), as he felt that the turning point of the match was initiated by him.
The other three special awards, based on performances in the league and the knockout stages went to Pramodya Gunasekera from Peoples Leasing & Finance (Best Bowler, 52 –12- 226-20); Yohan Dissanayake from Airport & Aviation Services (Best Batsman, 5 innings 305 runs with a top score of 157 Vs. SCB) and Sameera Sandaruwan from People’s Leasing & Finance (Man of the Series, 6 innings, 241 runs with 3 half centuries and 10 wickets for 200 runs).
The final was followed by the post tournament awards presentation, given away by the chief guest, Senior Sales Manager, Prestige Automobile (Pvt) Ltd., Pradeep Ramanathan, guest of honour, Head of Marketing, Hyundai Lanka, Prasan de Silva, President, Gamini Wickramasinghe, General Secretary, Rohana Dissanayake and Chairman, Tournament Committee, Mahesh de Alwis (all from MCA).
Chief Scores
LBF ‘B 294 for 9 wickets in 50 overs (Thushara Alwis 51, Gayath Mendis 30, Gihan de Silva 55, Akila Dhananjaya 71, Lasantha Perera 36 not out, Sylwin Jamion 4/71)
SCB 188 for 8 wickets in 37 overs when bad light halted play (Bhanuka Adeesha 70, Charith Satharasinghe 67, Tharindu Fernando 16, Gihan de Silva 3/34, Akila Dhananjaya 3/25)
MERCANTILE DIVISION D
Standard Chartered skipper, Sylwin Jamion in action
Top order batsman, Anushka Perera hit a whirlwind century to prop Ceylinco Insurance to a convincing 58 runs win over Asian Alliance Insurance, in the ongoing 12th Ceylon Cold Stores PLC sponsored, ‘Elephant House Lemonade’ Trophy, MCA Division ‘D’ 40-over League Tournament 2015, continued last weekend.
Anushka Perera the second centurion of the tournament, scored 118 in 64 balls, inclusive of four sixes and 16 fours and was associated in a 115 runs, partnership for the third wicket with Asela Fernando (76) which helped Ceylinco to run-up a formidable 295 runs in 39.4 overs.
Weekend’s bowling honours went to Jayantha Pushpakumara (6-0-38-5) which helped Bodyline to a fine 5-wicket win over AIA Insurance.
Middle-order batsman, Harsha Srinath from Hilton Colombo Residences hogged the limelight by scoring the first century of the tournament.
Harsha Srinath’s sparkling, unbeaten ton (104 not out in 85 balls, inclusive of a six and 16 fours) propelled Hilton CR to a total of 254 for 5 in 40-overs, which was just enough to beat Delmage Group by 13 runs.
First and second weekend match results:
At Thurstan: Bodyline beat AIA Insurance by 5 wickets
AIAI 194 all out (39.1) (D. Ratnayake 30, W. Fernando 30, G. Sepalage 3/35, J. Pushpakumara 5/38)
Bodyline 195/5 (35.3) (K. Madusanka 59, S. Nuwan 57 not out, W. Fernando 2/50)
At Kotte: Central Finance beat Polytex Garments by 4 wickets
Polytex 150 all out (32.2) (R. Madushan 38, D. Sandanayake 37, V. de Costa 3/29, W. Rajapaksa 4/22)
Central Finance 151/6 (26.2) (A. Henderson 39, A. Karunaratne 64 not out, D. Sandanayake 2/37)
At Moratuwa Campus: United Tobacco Processing beat HNB ‘B’ by 6 wickets (Match reduced to 32 overs a side, due to wet ground conditions)
HNB ‘B’ 201/9 (32) (Yohan Fernando 71, M. Ikram 51 not out, G. Dayawansa 2/20, L. Jayasundera 2/42, A. Perera 2/43)
UTP 202/4 (27.2) (M. Fernando 59, L. Jayasundera 48, N. Bandara 35)
At Thurstan: HSBC ‘A’ beat Trelleborg Lanka by 139 runs
HSBC ‘A’ 265/8 (40)(Supun Subasinghe 87, S. Wijetunga 45, D. Melder 41 not out, N. de Silva 47, D.U. Dantanarayana 3/54, D.N. Pushpakumara 2/52)
Trelleborg 126 all out (22.2) (P.L.S. Dinesh 30, P. de Zoysa 2/15, A. Kariyawasam 4/35)
At Moratuwa Campus: Aitken Spence beat McLarens Holdings by 2 wickets
McLarens 152 all out (28.3) (C. Edirisinghe 36, C. Attale 3/24, H. Wickramaratne 2/23)
Aitken Spence 153/8 (36.3) (R. Fernando 48, H.A. Sandaruwan 3/16, C. Prabath 2/38)
At Kotahena: Delmage Group beat David Pieris Motor Co. by 4 runs
Delmage 227 all out (39.2) (A. Samuel 35, I. Vindana 69, N. Saranga 35, K. Shamal 3/25, N. Channa 2/35, A. Elabodage 2/33, L. de Silva 2/58)
DPMC 223/9 (40) (S. Weerasinghe 52, U. Bandara 35, N. Channa 31, K. Kariapperuma 42 not out, T. Dhanushka 4/30, N. Saranga 2/22)
At Ananda Mawatha: Ceylinco Insurance beat Asian Alliance Insurance by 58 runs
Ceylinco 295 all out (39.4) (M. Majeed 32, Anushka Perera 118, Asela Fernando 76, D. Pradeep 3/59, C. Paranavithana 2/35)
AAI 237/7 (40) (C. Boteju 42, C. Amarasinghe 83, S. de Mel 2/45)
At Moratuwa: Hilton Colombo Residences beat AMW Group by 49 runs
HCR 174 all out (36.1) (P.T. Gunawardena 30, Malintha Gajanayake 64, D. Karunaratne 37, P. Silva 3/23, A. Wewalwela 4/35)
AMW 125 all out (23.5) (P. Perera 36, A. Channaka 37, P.T. Gunawardena 4/35, L. Wadood 3/12)
At Kotte: AIA Insurance beat NDB Bank by 83 runs
AIAI 273 all out (39.3) (W. Fernando 72, K. Ambepitiya 30, I. Sampath 74, J. Paranavithana 23, G. Bandara 3/35, S. Anotharan 3/62, E. Senaviratne 2/39)
NDB 190 all out (33.3) (D. Edussuriya 37, S. Fernando 69 not out, C. Prasanna 2/27, I. Sampath 2/30, J. Paranavitana 2/34)
At Moratuwa: HSBC ‘A’ beat Brumby’s International by 23 runs
HSBC ‘A’ 197 all out (39.4) (S. Subasinghe 42, A. Kariyawasam 23, Dion Melder 46, S. Wijetunga 3/35, T. Anuruddha 2/42, K. Mihiranga 2/47, N. Latiff 2/27)
Brumby’s 174 all out (37.4) (H. Kodituwakku 72, M. Riyaz 23, P. Colonne 2/30, P. de Soysa 3/12, A. Kariyawasam 2/43)
At Kotte: United Tobacco beat Bodyline by 5 wickets
Bodyline 144 all out (27.3) (S. Kumara 32, G. Sepalage 32, C. Dissanayake 3/20, M. Fernando 3/23, N. Bandara 3/26)
United Tobacco 148/5 (23.3) (S. Niroshan 27, L. Jayasundara 35, N. Bandara 35 not out, G. Sepalage 2/25)
At MCA: Hilton Colombo Residences beat Delmage Group by 13 runs
Hilton CR: 254/5 (40.0) (Malintha Gajanayake 38, Harsha Srinath 104 not out, K. de Soysa 35, D. Karunaratne 27 not out, G. Perera 2/19, A. Samuel 2/35)
Delmage Group 241 all out (39.2) (I. Vindana 51, S. Kannangara 22, N. Kariyawasam 76, P. Gunawardena 2/38, A. Saputhanthri 4/34)
At Thurstan: Expolanka Group beat Asian Alliance Insurance by 132 runs
Expolanka 309/8 (40) (Sankalpa Vaz 59, Lahiru Lakshitha 92, H. Shasthri 68, N. Thimothi 28 not out, N. Senaka 25 not out, Chandrika Amarasinghe 4/23, D. Fernando 2/60)
AAI 177 all out (36.3) (Charitha Boteju 57, D. Fernando 32, S. Adikari 35 not out, K. Fernando 3/30, Sankalpa Vaz 2/50)