SSC and Colts battle for the plum
Nishan Madushka has been among runs for Colts
Two evenly balanced teams–SSC and Colts CC will battle it out for the Premier Emerging League cricket title today at the R. Premadasa Stadium. Both teams remained unbeaten so far. SSC had their first round robin match against Ragama CC been washed out by rain. They recorded an innings and 34-run win over the Under-19 Red’s in their next match while Colts CC recorded two first innings wins over Army SC and Lankan CC.
SSC led by Charith Asalanka also recorded first inning wins against Negombo CC in the quarter final and then overcame Galle CC in the semi-final clash. Colts, on the other hand led by Hashan Dumindu secured an easy first innings win against Moors SC in the quarter-final and followed it up with a first innings win against Tamil Union in a high scoring semi-final encounter.
For SSC Sandun Weerakkody will be the key. He notched up two tons during the tournament– 111 against BRC in a first round match and 104 against Galle CC in the quarter-final.
Spinner Tharindu Ratnayake spearheads the SSC bowling
The other batsmen who have been successful and from whom much will be expected are Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Charitha Aslanka, Himesh Ramanayake, Chathupana Gunasinghe, Akash Senaratne, Sammu Ashan and Kavindu Kulasekera.
Spinner Tharindu Ratnayake will spearhead the bowling attack. He had an impressive match bag of 12 wickets against the Under 19 Reds which includes a eight wicket haul for 22 runs and support will be expected from Akash Senaratne and Praveen Jayawickrama to curtail the Colts CC batting.
On the hand Colts CC too has hard hitters in their ranks. Jehan Daniel who made a knock of 156 against Army SC and Vishad Randika who made an unbeaten ton against Tamil Union in the semi-final are two in form batsmen who could lead them to win the title. Players in the caliber of Sadeera Samarawickrama, Nishan Madushka, Heshan Duminda and Pasindu Isira have also been excellent form making useful contributions so far in the tournament. Samarawickrema, a national cricketer hit 122 against Moors SC in the quarters while Madushka who hit twin half centuries against Moors SC.
The bowling will revolve around Harsha Rajapakse, Maheesh Theekshana, Kavishka Anjula, Nisala Tharaka and Nalin Priyadharshana and much will depend on them if they are to prevent their opponents from making a big score.
However as mentioned earlier with the two teams being evenly balanced predicting an outcome is not going to be easy but for sure a closely contested encounter is on the card.
On the other hand the prevailing weather will no doubt play a major role so let’s hope that the weather god will be kind for the organizers, players and supporters of both the sides to witness an uninterrupted game in the two days of action.