The first of the two quarterfinals of the 29th Singer-MCA Super Premier League 2022 was played today (19th May) between John Keells Holdings and Sampath Bank at CCC grounds as the former recorded a thrilling 3 wicket win.
The other quarterfinal between Hayleys and HNB which was also scheduled for today at Thurstan College grounds had to be postponed for tomorrow due to wet playing conditions.
John Keells Holdings having defeated Sampath Bank in their last league game just a couple of days ago managed to defeat them once again, this time with a last-over thriller, to knock Sampath Bank out of the tournament. JKH will now meet Mode Engineering in the semifinals. Mode Engineering along with CDB Finance earned direct qualification for the semifinals as they topped the table at the end of the league stage.
Looking at how things panned out at CCC grounds today, it was once again a shortened game due to rain delay with just 25 overs per side. Batting first after winning the toss Sampath Bank scored only 114 as rising spinner Duvindu Tillakaratne bamboozled their batting order picking up 5 wickets in his quota of 5 overs giving away just 15 runs. In batting for Sampath Bank Sahan Arachchige’s 42 was the only notable performance.
The run chase looked very hard for JKH as they were in deep trouble having lost 6 wickets for just 63 runs in the 15th over. Pacer Shiran Fernando was the chief destroyer for Sampath Bank as he claimed impressive figures of 3/12 early on in the JKH innings. However, a brilliant 43-run stand for the 7th wicket between skipper Ishan Jayaratne and in-form Akila Dananjaya brought JKH back to the game before Jayaratne batted through to take his team over the line in the final over with a 6.
BRIEF SCORES
Quarter Final 1 – John Keells Holdings vs Sampath Bank at CCC Grounds, Colombo
Toss: Sampath Bank
Sampath Bank – 114 (25/25) Sahan Arachchige 42, Hasantha Fernando 18, Sameen Kandanarachchi 14, Duvindu Tillakaratne 5/15, Sachitha Jayathilake 2/29
John Keells Holdings – 118/7 (24.3/25) Ishan Jayaratne 36*, Kavin Bandara 14, Sachitha Jayathilake 14, Shiran Fernando 3/12, Sahan Arachchige 2/20
John Keells Holdings won by 3 wickets
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Quarter Final 2 – Hayleys vs HNB at Thurstan College Grounds, Colombo
Match was postponed due to rain and will be played tomorrow.
 between John Keells Holdings and Sampath Bank at CCC grounds as the former recorded a thrilling 3 wicket win.){kind=link}