ICBT and RIC were the first two teams to make it through to the semi finals of the Red Bull Campus Cricket Tournament 2015 as they beat BMS and IIHE respectively in the matches played at the Thurstan College grounds today(1).
ICBT won the toss and had no hesitation in having a bat first but they managed only 130/8 in their alloted twenty overs with national representative Shehan Jayasuriya making a top score of 32. Aftab Carder and Thilaksha Sumanasiri picked up to two wickets each for BMS. In reply, BMS looked well in control at the half way stage but the fall of Peterite Janith Liyanage for 46 sparked a collapse as they were bundled out for 122 handing a dramatic eight run victory to ICBT. The left arm pace and spin combo of Ruwinda Shamen and Anuk De Alwis worked wonders for ICBT as they kept things tight towards the end while sharing four wickets between them.
In the second game of the day, IIHE won the toss and elected to have a bat first and put up a poor show as they managed a mere 100/7 in their allotted overs. Saveen Cyril looked good for his 35 but he didn’t get much support from the other batters as RIC bowlers bowled economically to have a strangle hold on the IIHE batters. Rishane Mathangaweera and Dinal Fonseka picked up two wickets each for the boys from RIC. Royal College old boy and left handed batsman, Milan Abeysekara led the way for RIC in their reply with a top score of 40 and made sure that RIC qualified for the semi final with ease reaching their target in the 19th over of the innings. Praveen Jayathilake picked up two wickets for IIHE.
Chief scores:
Game 1
ICBT130/8 (20) Shehan Jayasuriya 32, Anuk De Alwis 24, Aftab Carder 2/15,
Thilaksha Sumanasiri 2/15 vs
BMS122 (19.5) Janith Liyanage 46, Ruwinda Shamen 2/16, Anuk De Alwis 2/16
Result- ICBT won by 8 runs
Game 2
IIHE100/7 (20) Saveen Cyril 35, Madusha Rajarathne 16, Rishane Mathangaweera
2/18, Dinal Fonseka 2/30 vs
RIC102/6 (18.4) Milan Abeysekara 40, Shehan Hettiachchi 27, Praveen
Jayathilake 2/19
Result- RIC won by 4 wickets
