Champs SLT win maiden Mercantile Cricket title
Thilina Masmulla top scorer of Fairfirst.
Hopes of a hat-trick of titles by fairfirst Insurance (fairfirst) was tarnished by Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) led by K. Amarasinghe, winning their maiden Mercantile Cricket title when it overcame fairfirst by 7 wickets, in the 8th Stafford Motor Co. (Pvt) Ltd., ‘Honda’ Trophy-MCA ‘G’ Division 25-Over League Tournament 2018 Final,concluded at the MCA Grounds last Saturday.
Earlier, fairfirst bagged the 2 MCA ’6s’ titles.
fairfirst sent into bat, got off on the wrong foot when their big hitting Captain Lakshan Perera was run-out for 6, with the score at 14, with more disaster following at the same score, as Perera’s opening partner R. Peiris perished for 7, followed by their new recruit, Asel Sigera for a duck- Score 14/3, both falling to SLT’s opening bowler, I Devin.
Batsmen Nos. 4 and 5, Thilina Masmulla and P. Fernando steadied proceedings with a fighting 51-runs stand for the 4th wicket in 18 balls, before Fernando was trapped LBW by L. Kumara- Score 65/4 (12.2 overs)
Masmulla fired away from one end, but was fast losing partners including veteran, Sanjaya Attanayake (2), fairfirst’s last crusader (Score 78/5)
Ian David of Telecom
Finally, Masmulla got stranded with a gutsy 87 not out in 62 balls with 1 six and 13 fours- fairfirst all out for 144 in 24.3 overs.
SLT chasing a target of 145 runs in 25 overs (RPO 5.8), was given a solid start by Nirushan Ramachandran- 63 in 57 balls with 3 sixes and 6 fours) and L. Thambawita- 32 in 29 balls with 5 fours, who put on 88 runs in 76 balls.
SLT now virtually in the fast lane, cruised along to win handsomely with L. Ranatunga- 17 not out and M. de Silva- 17 not out, putting the finishing touches with an unbroken 35-runs stand for the 4th wicket- Score 148/3 in 23.5 overs).
SLT’s opening batsman Nirushan Ramachandran was awarded Man of the Match.
Lacith Kumara of Telecom.
The other 3 Special awards, based on performances up to the Semifinals were
Best Bowler and Man of the Series: Mangala Pradeep (MAS Linea Aqua)
Best Batsman: Suranga Thushara (Allaris Lanka)
The presenters at the post tournament awards that followed the final were, Director and COO, Charaka Perera and GM, Damitha Jayasundera – both from Stafford Motor Co. (Pvt) Ltd., from the MCA, Roshan Iddamalgoda, President, Sujeewa de Silva, Chairman, Tournament Committee & Tarindra Kaluperuma, Secretary, Tournament Committee.
Scores
Fairfirst- 144 (24.2 overs) (Thilina Masmulla 87 n.o., P. Fernando 11; I. Devin 2/16, I. Siriwardena 2/20)
SLT- 148/3 (23.5 overs) (Nirushan Ramachandran 63, L. Thambawita 32, S. Divangana 14, L. Ranatunga 17 n.o., M. de Silva 17 n.o.; I. Sampath 3/28)