Malinda Pushpakumara’s Chilaw Marians and Sachithra Senanayake’s SSC recorded vital outright wins in the penultimate week of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Major League Tier A Super 8s Tournament, and set up a possible repeat of last year’s dramatic end after Chilaw dominated most of the season; SSC came out on top in last season’s edition of the tournament.
Bloomfield’s dramatic fall from Sri Lanka’s top league
Three matches of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Major League…
Very similar to last season, Chilaw have been the standout team by a distance, recording as many as 8 outright wins in 9 matches with the other game ending in a dramatic tie against BRC during the group stages. SSC on the other hand did top group A but recorded just one outright win in six matches. With the start of the four-day Super 8s however, SSC stepped up a gear and have recorded three wins in as many games and if they do beat Chilaw convincingly during the final week, they will once against steal the trophy from the Marians who have put up one of the best performances by a domestic team in Sri Lankan first class cricket history.
Last week saw plenty of surprises in the tier A in both the Super 8s and Plate Championship, with the standout being the rout of Ragama CC by Chilaw Marians inside 1 and a half days. Ragama CC were bowled out for 57 in their first innings at the P.Sara Oval before Chilaw struggled their way to 211 all out before close on day one. Ragama CC were bowled out for 148 in their second innings to hand Chilaw an innings victory on day 2. The standout performer in the game was Chilaw Marians’ all-rounder Shehan Jayasuriya who captured ten wickets in the game while also smashing 80 runs on a spinner’s paradise.
The other eagerly awaited result was to determine the team who would be relegated to the tier B segment next season. CCC were in danger zone at the start of the week but it was Bloomfield who unfortunately ended up as the last placed team in the division, when they went down to Badureliya SC who finished the Plate Championship in second position. Badureliya restricted Bloomfield to 173 before tons from Nadeera Nawela and youngster Pathum Nissanka ensure they put up a massive 423/9 declared in reply. Bloomfield came up with a dominant second innings batting display thanks to centuries from Ramesh Mendis and Anuk Fernando, but the efforts weren’t enough to change their fate.
Hashen Ramanayake’s six wicket haul shocked SSC as they conceded a first innings lead to BRC, but former Mazenodian Akash Senaratne’s match bag of 9 wickets ensured SSC had to get just 187 runs for an outright win, which they knocked off with ease thanks to half centuries from Milinda Siriwardena and Kaushal Silva to record an 8 wicket win.
Sri Lanka Ports Authority’s rise continued as they recorded an emphatic innings and 134 run victory over Colts Cricket Club which also helped them reach third position on the points table. The architects of their win once again were their spin twins Chanaka Komasaru and Madhuka Liyanapathiranage who shared 18 wickets between them. Komasaru captured ten wickets in the match to take his season’s tally to 63 wickets and sit at second position on the highest wicket taker list this season (Malinda Pushpakumara is the leader with 65 wickets), while Liyanapathiranage cooked up 8 in the match.
NCC recorded a convincing 313 run win over Saracens SC thanks to a stunning century from discarded Sri Lanka Test cap Tharindu Kaushal who is more known for his bowling. This was also his maiden first class ton as his innings set up the game brilliantly for NCC, before Sachintha Peiris finished things off with a second innings six wicket haul for NCC.
Former Sri Lanka Test cap Dinuk Hettiarachchi’s match bag of 11 wickets ensured CCC avoided relegation, while Lasith Abeyratne hit a swashbuckling century in CCC’s first innings total of 442 all-out. Sachith Pathirana also made a whirlwind 70 off just 38 balls as CCC secured first innings points over Tamil Union.
Army SC were in control for most of their match against Moors SC after bowling them out for 90 in their first innings, but Moors fought back dramatically to record a thrilling 21 run outright win while also going on to clinch the Plate Championship for the 2017/18 season. The star of the match for Moors SC was HRC Dilshan who captured 8 wickets in the match.
There were no matches played in the tier B segment this weekend due to local elections and Negombo CC, Lankan CC and Air Force SC will all fight it out during the last week commencing on the 16th of February for promotion to the tier A next season.
The most important game of the 2017/18 season is set to be worked off at the CCC grounds in Colombo between Chilaw Marians and SSC with both teams in with a chance to clinch the title. You can catch the live action of this four-day encounter on the ThePapare.com, Dialog TV channel no.1 and Dialog MyTV with the match scheduled to begin on the 15th of February.
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