Day two of the Women’s Division I Cricket tournament commenced earlier today with 2 matches each being played simultaneously at the Surrey Village Grounds and the Panagoda Army Grounds. Here’s a brief look at what took place during the day.
Group A
Army SC A vs Navy SC A
It was a much awaited face-off between Army A and Navy A as both teams had performed extremely well at the recently concluded Division I 50 over tournament. The Navy women won the toss and put the home team in to bat but their plan backfired as the hosts got off to a good start and went on to post a very competitive total of 129 on the board. Nipuni Hansika continued her good form to bring up a valuable half century.
The Navy ladies looked comfortable at one stage of the chase with Prasadini Weerakkody and Priyani Adikari batting well but as soon as their partnership was broken the hosts exerted huge amounts of pressure on them to restrict them to 116/9 in their 20 overs.
Army SC A – 129/4 (20) Nipuni Hansika 52*, Rebecca Vandort 24, Inoka Ranaweera 2/38
Navy SC A – 116/9 (20) Prasadini Weerakkody 32, Priyani Adikari 21, Sugandika Kumari 3/27
Result – Army A won by 13 runs
Matara SC vs Air Force SC B
The match turned out to be a cake walk for the Air Force ladies as Matara SC were only able to muster 99/8 in their allotted overs after batting 1st at the Surrey Village Grounds. Malsha Shehani shone with the bat but could not do enough to help her team to a competitive total.
Chasing 100 to register their 1st win of the tournament, Anushka Sanjeewani, Chathurani Gunawardene and Dharshani Dharmasiri ensured that Air Force B got there with plenty of time to spare.
Matara SC – 99/8 (20) Malsha Shehani 34*, Shakila Kumari 3/20, Chathurani Gunawardene 2/15
Air Force SC B – 100/3 (14.3) Dharshani Dharmasiri 33, Chathurani Gunawardene 29, Shayani Dilakshika 2/23
Result – Air Force B won by 7 wickets
Group B
Army SC B vs Air Force SC A
The hosts, Army B won the toss and elected to take 1st lease of the wicket that had been used earlier in the day, for the group A game between Army A and Navy A. They did not get off to a good start, losing a wicket off just the 2nd delivery of the innings. Things did not get any better as they were restricted to 76 off their allotted 20 overs.
The star studded Air Force team had no trouble hunting down the target as Sri Lanka openers Yasoda Mendis and Chamari Atapattu smashed their way to 77 in just 9.3 overs, giving Air Force a comfortable 10 wicket win.
Army SC B – 76/9 (20) Gayani Bandara 21, Oshadi Ranasinghe 2/12, Chamari Polgampola 1/7
Air Force SC A – 77/0 (9.3) Chamari Atapattu 39, Yasoda Mendis 35
Result – Air Force SC A won by 10 wickets
Navy SC B vs Colts Cricket Club
The Navy women won the toss and elected to bat 1st once again, possibly expecting the pitch to deteriorate during the course of their innings. They were never able to get going however as even though they did not lose wickets, they were unable to score quick runs. The Colts ladies kept things tight to restrict them to 86/8 in their 20 overs.
Chasing a meager total of 87 to register their 1st win of the tournament, the Colts openers got them off to the perfect start, putting on 52 off just 39 deliveries. Navy finally got the breakthrough when they dismissed Deepika Rasangika but it brought no respite as Colts cantered to a 9 wicket win.
Navy SC B – 86/8 (20) Dushanthi Dedunu 30, Sadani Thiwanka 3/8, Poojani Liyanage 2/18
Colts CC – 90/1 (13.2) Shamin Shaila 37, Harshitha Samarawickrama 20*, S. Jayawardene 1/12
Result – Colts CC won by 9 wickets
