Southern Province, North Central Province and two Western Province teams will battle it out to book final berths when they meet in the Under-15 Inter Provincial Prima Cup tournament semi finals at two venues today.
Western Province North are the favourites against Western Province South Outer when they meet at the Welagedara Stadium, Kurunegala, while Southern Province have the edge over North Central in their semi final at de Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa.
Western Province North captained by St’ Joseph’s College all-rounder Jehan Daniel have remained unbeaten throughout the league stage. With the cream of cricketers from some of Colombo’s strongest cricket playing schools forming the team they beat WP North Outer, North Central, Eastern and Central by big margins. Jehan Danial, Dushan Hettige, Sanjula Abeywickrama and Ashel Sigera have been the leading batsmen for them while Daminda Reshan was the leading wicket taker.
Their opponents Western Province South Outer have shown giant killing abilities during the latter part of the tournament having ousted formidable Western Province South in the final league match to earn their semi final place. The team consisting largely of players from Kalutara District is captained by Nipuna Deshan. They suffered a feat at the hands of Southern Province but bouncd back strongly to beat Northern, Uva and WP South Outer to secure a semi final place.
Southern Province too remained unbeaten during the league stage. The team captained by Raveen Yasas beat Uva, WP South Outer and Northern, while the match against WP South ended in a thrilling tie. Raveen Yasas and Hareen Buddila are the two main players to watch in their camp.
North Central had a disastrous start to the league stage of the tournament losing two matches but bounced back to record consecutive wins to enter the semi final stage. The team captained by Dulaj Ranatunga beat WP North Outer and central in the last two matches. Dulaj Ranatunga, Navodya Vijekumara and Mohamed Ismail are the players to watch in the North Central team.
North Central Team Seated from left: Saman Senanayake (District Coach), M.H. Ismile,Wasantha Kumara (Head Coach), Dulaj Ranatunga (Captain), Chandana Guruge (selector), Nipun Asok, R.A.K. Janaka (Physio), Absent: Prasad Ranawaka (District Coach), Nilantha Wimlaweera (District Coach), Nihal Edirisinghe (District Coach).
Standing from left: Supun Sumanaratna,Sahan Ranatunga,Geemantha Senanayake,Navodya Wijekumara,D.Premaratna,Pramila Dananjaya,Chanuka bandara,Keshan Baginda,Asanka Thilina,Sanjeewan Priyadharshana,Dananjaya bandara,Heshan Senira,M Chandraratna,Kaveen Bandara.Tharanga Madhusanka,Gihan Lakminda,D. Chandimal
