Three teams move to semi-finals
Sampath Bank, John Keells and Commercial Credit & Finance advanced to the semi-finals of the 23rd Singer –MCA Premier League Knock-out Tournament 2016 when they won their quarter-final matches.
They will now join the league winner, MAS Active Trading, who has drawn a bye into the semi-finals.
Lasith Malinga could not impress as he does usually - Pic by Ranjith Perera
A mesmerizing bowling performance by MCA’s Emerging Player 2014, Chathuranga de Silva, fresh after his tour of New Zealand with the SL ‘A’ team (10-1-34-7), guided Commercial Credit and Finance to an upset three wickets over the fancied, MAS Unichela.
MAS Unichela, sent into bat, got off to a flying start via an opening stand of 125 runs in 142 balls between Dhanushka Gunatillake (89 in 127 balls inclusive of two sixes and five fours) and T.M. Dilshan (63 in 74 balls inclusive of a six and four fours).
Chathuranga de Silva was brought into the attack in the 23rd over and immediately got rid of the rampaging, T.M. Dilshan and the dangerous Mahela Udawatte in two successive deliveries.
De Silva kept on firing his colt, as he got rid of Prasanna Jayawardena (4), Chamara Silva, T. Sumanasiri, Farveez Maharoof (10) and Malinga Bandara (1).
Thanks to some rear guard action by tail-ender, PLM Jayaratne (31 in 37 balls with three fours), MAS Unichela got up to 221 in 49.5 overs.
Commercial Credit got off to disastrous start, losing Shehan Jayasuriya (8) and Upul Tharanga and soon was looking down the barrel, further sliding to 65 for 5.
Chamara Kapugedera (15) and Chathuranga de Silva (15) put them back on course to reach 102 for 7 in the 27th over. But Commercial Credit was still far from shore needing 120 runs more in 23 overs with only three wickets standing.
Suddenly the Commercial Credit unsteady boat got a gush of wind in their sails in the form of two gutsy batsmen L.D. Madushanka (66 not out in 75 balls inclusive of three sixes and a four) and Suraj Randiv (73 not out in 80 balls, inclusive of two sixes and seven fours), who put on 117 runs for the 8th wicket, as they touched port with four balls to spare.
In a match reduced to a 28 overs a side, bowlers Bhanuka Rajapaksa (5-0-28-4) and Janaka Gunaratne (5.4-1-19-5) propelled John Keells to a comfortable 67 runs win over Seylan Bank.
A superb opening stand between Sameen Kandanarachchi (59 in 57 balls with a six and seven fours) and Primosh Perera ( 80 in 105 balls inclusive of two sixes and six fours) in 21 overs, paved way for Sampath Bank to a convincing five wickets win with nearly 10 overs to spare over HNB.
At the conclusion of the ‘League’ MAS Active emerged winners dethroning the defender, MAS Unichela on a superior run-rate. MAS Active and MAS Unichela both unbeaten, finished with equal points as the decider ended in a no-result.
In the last preliminary round matches Chamara Silva 75, Heshan Dumindu 60, Bhanuka Rajapaksa 100, Lahiru Milantha 62 and Sameen Kandanarachchi 64 n.o. fared best with the bat while Lasith Malinga 6/36 was the pick of the bowlers.
The Table of Points at the completion of ‘League’: (1) MAS Active Trading (25 points/Net run rate 4.29) (2) MAS Unichela (25 points/Net run rate 2.83), (3) John Keells (15 points/Net run rate 0.60), (4) Sampath Bank (15 points/Net run rate 0.08), (5) HNB (08 points/Net run rate 2.27) and Seylan Bank (04 points/Net run rate -3.09), Commercial Credit & Finance withdrew after playing two matches.
MAS Active Trading the League winners received a bye to the semi-finals while the other six teams clashed in the quarter-finals last Wednesday.
The semi-finals will be staged today between MAS Active Trading and Sampath Bank at the MCA ground and John Keells and Commercial Credit at the FTZ ground in Katunayake .- LR
Match Results: Quarter-finals
At MCA: John Keells beat Seylan Bank by 67 runs (match reduced to 28 overs a side due to soggy ground conditions)
JK 164/9 (28) (N.H.G. Cooray 43, Y. Lanka 20, M.A.P. Fernando 28, L. Abeykoon 2/31, C.G. Wijesinghe 3/35, K. Gunawardena 2/33)
Seylan Bank 97 all out (23.4) (K. Hiniduma 20, L. Nimsara 20, Bhanuka Rajapaksa 4/28, Janaka Gunaratne 5/19)
At Katunayake: Sampath Bank beat HNB by 5 wickets
HNB 204/7 (50) (H.A.T. Fernando 20, D. Dias 47, R.G. Perera 30, S. Jayawardena 26, N.V.R. Perera 26 not out, R.K. Fernando 2/28, H. Nirmal 2/22)
Sampath Bank 206/5 (40.4) (Sameen Kandanarachchi 59, Primosh Perera 80, Jeevan Mendis 33, Madawa Warnapura 3/43)
At Moratuwa: Commercial Credit and Finance beat MAS Unichela by 3 wickets
MAS Unichela 221 all out (49.2) (M.D. Gunatillake 89, T.M. Dilshan 63, P.L.M. Jayaratne 31, L.D. Madushanka 2/41, Chathuranga de Silva 7/34)
Commercial Credit 224/7 (49.2) (L.D. Madushanka 66 not out, Suraj Randiv 73 not out, P.L.M. Jayaratne 2/40)
| 3rd ‘Emerald Ceylon Tea’ Cup, MCA ‘B’ division 50 over League Koshan scores century as Mobitel win Middle order batsman, Koshan Jayawickrama hit a hurricane century (103 in 44 balls, inclusive of 12 sixes and five fours ) for Mobitel in the ongoing 3rd ‘Emerald Ceylon Tea’ Cup, MCA ‘B’ division 50 over League Tournament. Jayawickrama was associated in an unbeaten 135 runs partnership for the sixth wicket with Eranga Ratnayake (73 not out), which helped Mobitel to go over the 300-runs mark (312 for 6 in 50 overs) and beat Singer Sri Lanka ‘A’ by a massive margin of 111 runs. DIMO registered their fourth win, beating their arch-rivals, Hayleys group by 34 runs on the D&L method to finish on top of group ‘A’. LB Finance ‘A’, Commercial Bank ‘A’ and Textured Jersey too registered wins to qualify for the next round. The four top teams from Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ will now advance to the quarter-finals, scheduled for 24th and 27th October. Semi-Finals is to be played on November 1 at the MCA and FTZ Grounds and the finals will be played on November 7 at the MCA. Match Results: At NCC: LB Finance ‘A’ beat MAS Silueta by 20 runs LBF ‘A’ 211all out (49.3) (Lakshan Rodrigo 41, Sadeera Samarawickrama 23, Priyamal Perera 39, R. Weerasinghe 37, R. Liyanarachchi 27, R. Silva 2/27, A. Emmanuel 2/39) MAS Silueta 191 all out (48.1) ( P. Waduge 29, I. Samarasuriya 41, A. Emmanuel 21, S. Cooray 38 not out, K. Dinudu 20, L Rodrigo 2/31, R. Weerasinghe 3/23, Y. Samarasinghe 4/36) At Welisara: Mobitel beat Singer by 111 runs Mobitel 312/6 (50) (G. Wimaladharma 55, E. Ratnayake 73 not out, S. Salgado 50, Koshan Jayawickrama 103, C. Wijeratne 3/26, L. Bandara 2/65) Singer 201 all out (48.5) (N. Peiris 55, R. Priyan 28, L. Jayasinghe 2/18, Koshan Jayawickrama 3/31) At Maggona: John Keells ‘B’ beat Hayleys Group by 6 wickets Hayleys 152 all out (43.2) (L. Pasindu 48, D. Ratnayake 26, N. Mazahir 2/15, T. Fernando 2/32, H. Wickramasooriya 3/20) At Katunayake: Hayleys beat Mobitel by 27 runs on the D&L method Mobitel 117 all out (41.3) (G. Wimaladharma 35, E. Ratnayake 41, R. Wijeratne 4/18, C. Edirisinghe 2/20, Ali Khan 2/15, H. Rajapaksa 2/18) Hayleys 99/5 (29.5) when bad light halted play (P. Isira 30 not out, D. Ratnayake 25 not out, S. Nimalsha 2/19) At Thurstan: The match between Kanrich Finance ‘A’ and John Keells ‘B’ ended in a No-Result Kanrich Finance 212/9 (47) (A. Silva 26, A. Asanka 31, S. Perera 2/36, T. Ratnayake 2/44, H. Wickramasooriya 2/34) At MCA: DIMO beat Hayleys by 34 runs on the D&L method DIMO 286 all out (49.1) ( Pulina Tharanga 56 not out, Matheesha Perera 50, Nipun Karunaratne 41, Jason Perera 36, P. Madushan 22, C. Edirisinghe 3/58, M. Deepal 2/27) Hayleys 120/4 (25) when rain halted play (T. Jayasinghe 35, M. Deepal 33, H. Rajapaksa 25, N. Karunaratne 3/41) Linea Aqua 177 all out (40.5) (T. de Silva 62, M. Ravi Chandra 46, A. Rajapaksa 2/24, A. Ranasinghe 2/43, S. Premaratne 2/42) Commercial Bank ‘A’ 122/4 (33) when bad light halted play (P. Thimanka 42 not out, R. Ekanayake 32 not out, M. Pradeep 2/25) At Katunayake: Textured Jersey beat MAS Silueta by 8 runs Textured Jersey 117 all out (41.2) (R. Mendis 48, Rumesh Silva 5/25) MAS Silueta 109 all out (34.5) (P. Waduge 22, I. Samarasuriya 28, S. Cooray 20, M. Ekanayake 2/22, G. Rupasinghe 2/17, R. Mendis 2/26, L. Sadakin 2/35) |