SSC, Chilaw Marians, NCC, Army enter semis
SSC, Chilaw Marians, NCC and Army SC came out victorious in the quarter-final encounters played yesterday to book berths to the semi-finals of the SLC Invitational Limited Over Cricket Tournament.
Dimuth Karunaratne
SSC outclassed Tamil Union by 200 runs in a one sided game, thanks to half tons scored by Dimuth Karunaratne, Sandun Weerakkody and skipper Charith Asalanka in the match played at the NCC ground.
SSC, electing to bat, made a formidable score of 299 for 6, which came on the back of a valuable opening wicket stand of 129 runs between Dimuth who made 70 in 77 balls (7×4) and Sandun, who cracked a quick fire 62 in just 45 balls (9×4 and 2×6). Later skipper Charith made a run a ball 56 which had five boundaries to propel SSC’s score.
Tamil Union in their turn was never going to be near the run chase as they lost their top five wickets with the score on just 62 runs with spinner Sachithra Senanayake doing the early damage. Later spinner Jeffrey Vandersay cleaned off the tail with a three wicket to send Tamil Union crashing for just 99 runs with more than half overs left in their innings.
Chilaw Marians was guided by a 108-ball ton from opener Sumit Ghadigaonkar and half tons by Kamindu Mendis and skipper Shehan Jayasuriya, to a convincing 130-run win over Panadura SC at the SSC ground.
Sumit Ghadigaonkar scored a 100 for Chilaw Marians
Chilaw Marians, put into bat, made an imposing score of 315 for 9 following a valuable 163-run partnership for the second wicket between Sumit and Kamindu, who made 53. There was also a 74-run stand for the fifth wicket between Shehan. who cracked 88 in 61 balls with four boundaries and half a dozen sixes and Thikshila de Silva.
NCC, one of the contenders for the title, underwent some anxious moments against Saracens SC at the Colts ground before pulling off a thrilling three-run win. Saracens was spearheaded by half tons from Sithara Gimhan and Pramod Maduwantha and was making steady progress in quest of a modest target of 245 runs.
They were sitting pretty after openers Sithara Gimhan and Ranitha Liyanaarachci gave them a sound start of 61 runs. Later Pramod and Saliya Saman frustrated the NCC bowlers with the pair associating in a 69-run stand for the fifth wicket.
The dismissal of the pair at the same score of 219 saw Saracens SC falling back as the NCC bowlers succeeded to restrict them for a score of 241 runs. Earlier put into bat, NCC made 244 for 8. Their score was propelled by Pathum Nissanka and Chathuranga de Silva, who made half tons.
Dinesh Chandimal, playing his first match for Army SC, turned out to be a successful one as he made an unbeaten knock of 67 and was involved in two fruitful partnerships which paved the way for his side to coast to an easy five-wicket win over Air Force in the match played at the FTZ ground in Katunayake.
Chandimal, whose knock came in 69 balls, comprised six boundaries as he added 63 runs with Dushan Vimukthi for the second wicket and 71 runs for the fourth wicket with skipper Asela Gunaratne as Army chased down 207 runs in the 45th over.
The two semi-finals are scheduled to be played at SSC amd FTZ ground in Katunayake today.
Results:
- At NCC: SSC beat Tamil Unio by 200 runs
SSC 299 for 6 (50) (Dimuth Karunaratne 70, Sandun Weerakkody 62, Charith Asalanka 56, Sachithra Senanayake 22, Dhammika Prasad 46n.o.,Tharindu Ratnayake 17n.o.: Sadish Pathiranage 2/29, Ramitha Rambukwella 2/44)
Tamil Union 99 (24) (Prasansana Jayamanna 24, Maduka Liyanapathiranage 18, Tharanga Paranavithana 15: Sachithra Senanayake 4/15, Jeffrey Vandersay 3/3, Himesh Ramanayake 2/30)
- At SSC: Chilaw Marians beat Panadura by 130 runs
Chilaw Marians 315 for 9 (50) (Sumit Ghadigaonkar 100, Shehan Jayasuriya 88, Kamindu Mendis 63, Thikshila de Silva 28: Umesh Karunaratne 6/67)
Panadura SC 185 (41.3) (Harsha Cooray 41, Vishwa Chathuranga 37, Kashif Naved 20, Dilshan Abeysinghe 16n.o.: Pulina Tharanga 4/16, Kamindu Mendis 3/40, Shehan Jayasuriya 2/36)
- At Colts: NCC beat Saracens by 3 runs
NCC 244 for 8 (50) (Pathum Nissanka 78, Chathuranga de Silva 51, Mahela Udawatte 41, Angelo Perera 37, Chamika Karunaratne 21: Saliya Saman 4/41, Harsha Rajapakse 3/52)
Saracens SC 241 for 7 (50) (Sithara Gimhan 68, Pramod Maduwantha 62, Saliya Saman 24, Ranitha Liyanaarchchi 23, Kanishka Amarasinghe 19: Sachindu Colombage 2/21, Chamika Gunasekera 2/42)
- At Katunayake: Army beat Air Force by 5 wickets
Air Force 206 for 8 (50) (Suminda Lakshan 63, Madawa Nimesh 47, Udayawansa Parakrama 26, Shabik Ifthry 22: Heshan Hettiarachchi 3/47, Lahiru Wijetunge 2/20)
Army 207 for 5 (44.3) (Lakshan Edirisinghe 48, Asela Gunaratne 36, Dushan Vimukthi 25, Dinesh Chandimal 67n.o.: Suminda Lakshan 2/42)