Wayamba and Hirdaramani Ruhuna qualified to meet in the final of the Bank of Ceylon Inter-Provincial T20 cricket tournament when they won their semi final encounters worked off at De Zoysa Stadium in Moratuwa yesterday.
The high riding Wayamba confronted Basnahira South in the first semi final which was played in the morning and recorded a comprehensive nine wicket win while Hirdaramani Ruhuna overcame the strong MAS Holdings Kandurata by seven wickets in the second semi final.
Welagedera and Mahela impress in Wayamba’s win
It turned out to be a one sided affair after left arm pacie Chanaka Welagedera gave Wayamba an early break through with the prized wicket of skipper T.M. Dilshan in the third ball of his and the first over of the innings.
Chanaka followed it up with another wicket that of Dilruwan Perera in the last ball of his second over which saw Basnahira South fall back.
There was no significant partnership with only Nuwan Zoysa putting in some resistance. At the halfway stage of the inning Basnahira South was 75 for 5 with right arm pacie Thisara Perera joining Chanaka to do the damage.
Wayamba paceman Welagedera in action (Pic by Ranjith Perera) |
They were unable to make any headway and were ultimately bowled out for 117 with Thisara and Chanaka cleaning up the tail with the duo sharing six wickets between them. Nuwan was their top scorer making 41 in 28 balls with eight boundaries.
Wayamba in their run chase were given a flying start by openers Jeewantha Kulatunga and Mahela Jayawardena who together put on 86 runs in just 57 balls before they were separated with Mahela’s dismissal. Mahela made a quick fire 58 in only 32 balls which had six boundaries and three sixes.
Jeewantha joined by Kusal Perera took them to victory as Wayamba romped home in the third ball of the 14th over. Jeewantha remained unbeaten on 48 coming off 37 balls with four boundaries and three sixes.
Basnahira South 117 in 18.4 overs (Nuwan Zoysa 41, Janaka Gunaratne 18, Prasanna Jayawardena 15: Thisara Perera 3 for 18, Chanaka Welagedera 3 for 19)
Wayamba 122 for 1 in 13.3 overs (Mahela Jayawardena 58, Jeewantha Kulatunga 48)
Sweet revenge for Ruhuna
It was sweet revenge for Hiradaramani Ruhuna who was defeated in the inter-provincial limited over final played two weeks ago. Kandurata invited to take first lease of the wicket found themselves in deep trouble with five of their top batsmen back in the pavilion with just 43 runs in the seventh over.
They never recovered from that collapse and did not last the 20 overs being bowled out for 102. Ruhuna in their run chase though losing the first wicket on 13 was guided by 54 runs stand for the second wicket between Sanath Jayasurya and Dinesh Chandimal enabling them to reach the target in just 9.4 overs.
MAS Holdings Kandurata 102 in 18.3 overs (Chamara Kapugedera 26, Thilan Samaraweera 25, Kaushalya Weeraratne 25 n.o.: Sachitra Senanayake 2 for 9, Sajeewa Weerakoon 2 for 16)
Hiradaramani Ruhuna 106 for 3 in 9.4 overs (Sanath Jayasuriya 35, Dinesh Chandimal 35, Indika de Saram 16 n.o.: Muttiah Muralitharan 2 for 12) |
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