NCC and Colts clash for supremacy
The curtains of the Major Club T20 Cricket Tournament comes down today with two teams — NCC and Colts — battling it out for supremacy in the final for the title scheduled to be played at the SSC ground from 10.00a.m. onwards.
They qualified to the finals with over two other unbeaten teams as NCC coasted to a convincing 7-wicket win over Moors SC while Colts got the better of Ace Capital by 5 wickets in a closely contested encounter.
The sides are led by experienced players. NCC is captained by Niroshan Dickwella while Colts will be led by Akila Dhananjaya, and they possess some of the cream of young cricketers who are knocking at the door to go greater heights in time to come.
Looking back at the performance of the two teams, NCC ended the league stage with an impressive record. They remained unbeaten, having won four matches and one game being abandoned. On the other hand Colts had their unbeaten record tarnished when they underwent a defeat to Sebastianites to end with three wins and a defeat. Apart from Colts, in fact two other teams ended with three wins each — Sebastianites and Tamil Union — but Colts made it to the final having secured a better run rate.
On paper NCC has the edge over Colts and they will be coming into the field with confidence and heads high. They have in their ranks two players, Upul Tharanga and skipper Dickwella, who have been in good form with the bat. Tharanga topped the batting averages accumulating 195 runs inclusive of an unbeaten ton and Dicwella is not far behind. He ended the league with 152 runs and NCC will no doubt bank on the duo in this crucial encounter. Besides the pair they have players in the calibre of Sahan Arachchige, Kamil Mishara, Thaveesha Abishek and Ahan Wickramasinghe and much will be expected from them.
NCC will be depending on Chamika Gunasekera, Nipun Ransika, Lasith Embuldeniya, Asel Sigera and Sahan Arachchige to combine with effect to curtail the Colts batting.
Colts on the other hand will bank on opener Yasoda Lanka, who has been their top scorer. He has made useful contributions in the league segment and along with Dhananjaya Lakshan, Angelo Mathews, Jehan Daniel, Sheran Fonseka, Kavishka Anjula and Sangeeth Cooray, who are yet to make useful contributions. Hopefully the side will be expecting them to give off their best in this crucial match.
Colts’ bowling will be spearheaded by Uditha Madushan and Muditha Lakshan with support from skipper Dhananjaya, Dhananjaya Lakshan, who had a successful stint in the semifinal encounter and Dunith Wellalage.
However NCC, though coming into the game having the edge, they cannot afford to take Colts lightly. Colts too will be aiming to lay their hands on the title and will not doubt leave no stone unturned. But a close tussle is on the cards with the two possessing talented players in both batting and bowling departments.