Dimuth Karunaratne and Kasun Madushanka helped Kandy District get one over Nuwara Eliya District while Anuradhapura District emerged victorious over Polonnaruwa District in the SLC Districts One Day Tournament.
Kandy District v Nuwara Eliya District
Openers Minod Bhanuka and Dimuth Karunaratne gave Kandy a solid 70 run start in 10 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat first at Moors grounds. Bhanuka was the first to be dismissed for 24 off 28 balls.
Excellent bowling paired with poor batting meant wickets kept tumbling as the Kandy batsmen were restricted to a below par 209 in 43 overs.
In a hapless batting line up, Dimuth Karunaratne was the single shining light with an unbeaten 110 in 140 balls with 11 fours and a solitary six.
Ruvindu Gunasekara was the pick of the bowlers with 4 wickets for 37 runs in 8 overs. He was well supported by Nilanka Sandakan as the slow left-arm orthodox bowler managed 3 for 28 in his allotted 10 overs.
In reply, the Nuwara Eliya batsmen had the worst possible start having been reduced to 22 for the loss of 4 wickets in 9.1 overs.
From then on, the Nuwara Eliya batting never got going as regular wickets meant they were restricted to just 113 in 38 overs.
Kasun Madushanka was the chief destroyer picking 6 wickets for just 32 runs in 9 overs. Sri Lanka test paceman, Nuwan Pradeep was the next best with 2 for 20 in 6 overs.
Kandy District 209 (43) Dimuth Karunarathne 110*, Dasun Shanaka 33, Minod Bhanuka 24, Ruvindu Gunasekera 4/37, Nilanka Sandakan 3/28
Nuwara Eliya District 113 (38) Promod Maduwantha 36, Kasun Madushanka 6/32, Nuwan Pradeep 2/20
Anuradhaura District v Polonnaruwa District
Winning the toss and batting first, Anuradhaura District put on a respectable 266 in 50 overs as all batsmen made valuable contributions.
Number three batsman Lahiru Jayakody top scored with a quick fire 62 off 48 balls which included 3 fours and 2 sixes. Captain Nipun Karunanayake made 61 off 52 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes.
Yohan De Silva (3/37) and Suresh Peiris (3/70) managed 6 wickets between each other in the bowling department.
Tharindu Siriwardene gave Polonnaruwa a good start even though his partner Chamod Silva was dismissed leg before wicket for just 6 runs.
Captain Sulan Jayawardene came in the middle order and made a 49 run cameo off 51 balls but it was all little too late for Polonnaruwa as they failed to reach the 267 target falling short by 31 runs at Bloomfield Grounds.
Anuradhapura District 266 (50) Lahiru Jayakodi 62, Nipun Karunanayake 61, Nisal Francisco 43, Akeel Inham 35, Yohan de Silva 3/37, Suresh Pieris 3/70
Polonnaruwa District 235 (50) Tharindu Sriwardene 64, Sulan Jayawardene 49, Chrishen Aponsu 30, Nipuna Gamage 25, Malith de Silva 4/31, Imran Khan 3/25, Adeesha Nanayakkara 2/45
