Udawatte and Shalika guide Wayamba

A five wicket haul by right arm paceman Shalika Karunanayake gave Wayamba Province an easy 127 run win over Basnahira South in the first match of the inter-provincial cricket tournament which got underway at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.
Basnahira South chasing a formidable score of 253 scored by Wayamba was never in the run. It was the dismissal of skipper T.M. Dilshan who was the first victim of Shalika who sent the target beyond their reach.

Though they were having a fair run rate, the wickets falling at regular intervals saw them slump to 76 for 5 in the 16th over. There was no significant partnership in the whole innings with the best being 28 runs for the second wicket between Dilruwan Perera and Prasanna Jayawardena while Milinda Siriwardena made the top score of 32.

Two other right arm medium fast bowlers Ishara Amarasinghe and Ajantha Mendis broke the backbone of the lower order batting giving support to Shalika who had made the initial breakthrough in the early part of the innings. The duo shared four wickets between them.

Earlier in the day Wayamba skipper Mahela Jayawardena winning the toss elected to take first lease of the wicket. Openers Michael Vandort and Mahela Udawatte gave the side a fair start before the pair was separated with 39 on the board.

It was the second wicket pair of Lanka de Silva who joined Udawatte that propped up the Wayamba run fiesta. The pair had things their own way and accumulated runs at will, adding an invaluable 75 runs before the latter was dismissed for a well compiled 55 in 66 balls which included eight boundaries and two sixes.

Losing two quick wickets within seven overs that of de Silva and skipper Jayawardena saw them slide to 143 for 4. Jehan Mubarak and Jeevantha Kulatunga put the Wayamba side out of the woods whilst frustrating the opponents.

The pair saw the side passing the 200 run mark and with the score on 215 spinner Malinga Bandara separated the pair dismissing Jeevantha Kulatunga who was unfortunate to miss out on a half ton making 44. With just five overs of batting left Wayamba going in for quick runs saw them losing four wickets in the process but ended their innings on a healthy 253 for 9.

Wayamba 253 for 9 in 50 overs (Mahela Udawatte 55, Lanka de Silva 48, Jeevantha Kulatunga 44, Jehan Mubarak 43, Mahela Jayawardena 17; Malinga Bandara 4 for 41)

Basnahira South 126 in 28.1 overs (Milinda Siriwardena 32, Prasanna Jayawardena 21; Shalika Karunanayake 5 for 58, Ajantha Mendis 2 for 7, Ishara Amarasinghe 2 for 22)