CFC and CCF advance to the final
R.A.Duminda top scored for CFC. Pic by Ranjith Perera
Central Finance Co. and Commercial Credit & Finance ‘B’ advanced to the Final of the 13th Ceylon Cold Stores PLC sponsored, ‘Elephant House Lemonade’ Trophy, MCA ‘D’ division 40-Over League Tournament 2016. In the semi-finals played last Saturday, Central Finance beat the giant killers, Commercial Leasing by two wickets and Commercial Credit & Finance ‘B’ beat Kanrich Finance ‘B’ by 31 runs. Central Finance owe their win to their right arm, off spinner, Ishan Salinda, who finished with impressive figures of 8-0-42-5, which restricted Commercial Leasing to 201 in 39.5 overs.
Central Finance had to fight all the way to reach their target in 38.2 overs (203 for 8), thanks to gutsy innings by R.A. Duminda (41 in 41 balls with two sixes and five fours) Vikum Costa (35 in 53 balls with five fours) and Anura Karunaratne (23 not out). All rounder Sanitha de Mel figured prominently for Commercial Credit & Finance ‘B’ in their win against Kanrich Finance ‘B’, top scoring with 66 runs in 69 balls with four fours and two sixes and bagging 3 for 26 in 4.5 overs.
Chief scores:
SF1 at MCA: Central Finance beat Commercial Leasing by 2 wickets Commercial Leasing 201 (39.5) (A. Wijewickrama 49, Arjuna Perera 53, K. Chandana 35, Ishan Salinda 5/42) Central Finance 203/8 (38.2) (R.A. Duminda 41, Vikum Costa 35, A. Handerson 28, A. Karunaratne 23 not out, M. Sanjaya 2/54, S. Gamage 2/36)
SF 2 at Mattegoda: Commercial Credit & Finance ‘B’ beat Kanrich Finance ‘B’ by 31 runs Commercial Credit ‘B’ 176 (37.1) (Sanitha de Mel 66, Kavinda Silva 31, Akila Dananjaya 3/16, S. Senaratne 2/32, T. Gamage 2/43) Kanrich Finance ‘B’ 145 (33.5) (S. Thivanka 39, S. Senaratne 21, S. Shalinda 3/20, Samitha de Mel 3/26, P. Wijesena 2/25) The Final between Central Finance & Commercial Credit & Finance ‘B’ will take place this weekend at the MCA Grounds, Commencing 10.00 am. It will be now interesting to see how Commercial Credit & Finance ‘B’ tackle Central Finance for the 2nd time around as both teams played in the same group in the league stage and Central Finance came out victorious by five wickets in their league outing on 27th February. – LR