Sweet revenge for Com Credit & Finance
Vikum Costa - 4-53. Pic by Ranjith Perera
Poor fielding followed with a pathetic display of batting by Central Finance Co. gave Commercial Credit & Finance PLC ‘B’, the full satisfaction of sweet revenge and a cake walk 138 runs win, in the 13th Ceylon Cold Stores PLC sponsored ‘Elephant House Lemonade Trophy’, MCA ‘D’ division 40-Over League Tournament 2016 final concluded at the MCA Grounds, last weekend. Earlier in the tournament, Commercial Credit & Finance ‘B’ lost to Central Finance by five wickets. Commercial Credit ‘B’, who won the toss and batted, got off to a shaky start, losing their inform batsmen Suchira Fernando (17), Kavinda Silva (5) and Malith Fernando (2) at the totals of 16, 31 and 34. Anura Dias, in at No.3 steadied the ship with a valuable 68 runs stand in 97 balls for the 4th wicket with Sanitha de Mel (29). While Dias held his end, wickets kept on tumbling at the other end, as Central Finance spin twins, Vikum Costa and Ishan Salinda were in full control.
With the board reading 130 for 8, Dias found his allay in No. 10 batsman, Duminda Kanangara (12 in 24 balls); the pair put on 57 runs in 47 balls for the 9th wicket. Commercial Credit closed their innings at 211 in 39.2 overs, with Dias being the last man out, after scoring a brilliant 108 in 85 balls, inclusive of four sixes and 12 fours. The Central Finance fielding was much to be desired; the scoreboard would have read differently if their bowlers got the full support from the fielders; even Centurion Anura Dias was let off at a vital stage. Central Finance was set a target of 212 runs in 40 overs (RPO 5.3). Commercial Credit opening bowler Suranga Salinda got rid of the opening batsman, Nimesh Fernando in the 3rd ball of the day; Sanitha de Mel followed up bagging two wickets in his opening over; Salinda, rubbed salt to the wound, capturing two more wickets in his 3rd over as Central Finance went down precipices -18 for 5. Their last pair, Maduranga Attanayake (15 not out) and Charith Nirantha (25) took the score over the 50 mark, but they were soon dismissed for a paltry 73 runs in 16 overs, giving an early finish for the Final at 2.45 pm.
Suranga Salinda 6-1-23-4, Sanitha de Mel 5-0-15-3 and Duminda Kanangara 4-0-24-2 combined together to demolish Commercial Credit ‘B’.
MCA appointed Match Referee, Chandana Mahesh Wickramasinghe had an easy task of naming Anura Dias from Commercial Credit as the Man of the Match. The other three special awards went to: Akila Dhananjaya, from Kanrich Finance ‘B’ the Best Bowler (7 matches, 115 runs, 20 wickets); Malintha Gajanayake from Hilton Colombo Residences, Best Batsman (7 innings 431 runs, one century and three half centuries) and Adeesha Nanayakkara from Vallibel Finance, the Man of the Series (6 matches, 141 runs 11 wickets and 394 runs including 175 Vs. Aitken Spence, 99 Vs. Ceylinco and 72 Vs. DPMC) Awards were presented by Vice President, John Keells Holdings/Head of EH Beverages, CCS, Daminda Gamlath, Senior Brand Manager, EH Beverages/CCS, Nadina Fernando, President, Niran Mahawatte, General Secretary, Nalin Wickramasinghe and Member Tournament Committee, Punyakantha Abeygunasekera – all from MCA.
Commercial Credit & Finance
LC ‘B’ 211 (39.2) (Suchira Fernando 17, Anura Dias 108, Sanitha de Mel 29, Gihan Mihiranga 15, Charith Nirantha 2/18, Vikum Costa 4/53, Ishan Salinda 2/28)
Central Finance 73 (16) (Maduranga Attanayake 15 not out, Charith Nirantha 25, Suranga Salinda 4/23, Sanitha de Mel 3/15, Duminda Kanangara 2/24)