The MCA Bharti Airtel T20 Super tournament got under way at the Mercantile Cricket association grounds and the Colombo Bloomfield Cricket and Athletics club.
The tournament sponsored by Airtel india kicked off today and will conclude on the 4th with the final being played at the Mercantile Cricket Association grounds. Eight teams will be going head to head for this trophy. Matches number 3 and 4 saw some exciting cricket being played as MAS Intimates Unichela took on Textured Jersey and Sampath Bank took on Commercial Credit and Finance.
The game between MAS Intimates Unichela and Textured Jersey was pretty much a one sided match. Unichela had a lot of experienced campaigners. 7 of the 11 players in the team were Sri Lanka national players in the likes of Mahela Udawattha, T.M. Dilshan, Dilruwan Perera, Chamara Silva, Farvees Maharoof, Prasanna Jayawardane and Ramith Rambukwella. The entire top 7 batsmen in the team were a Sri Lankan national standard batting line up and the decision was an evident one.
Unichela’s skipper; national campaigner Farvees Maharoof won the toss and elected to bat and limited the Textured Jersey team for 101 in 20 overs. Captain Rangeeth Peiris top scored with 47 while the rest of the batting order chipped in but without significant highlights to their names. Ishara Amarasinghe bowled extremely well capturing 3 wickets for just 10 runs. He really looked to keep things tight and allowed the batsmen to make the mistake while he stuck to the basics. Dilruwan Perera was good support for Amarasinghe as he too kept things tight from his end capturing 2 runs for just 6 runs.
In reply Unichela passed the target with 10.2 overs to spare winning by 8 wickets. Mahela Udawattha scored a master blaster inning of 63 ending unbeaten while Dilruwan Perera scored a well compiled 22 runs in quick succession.
Although it was a one sided game it was a pretty exiting one with a lot of boundaries being scored specially by the team under Maharoof.
Chief Scores;
Textured Jersey – 101. 20 overs (Rangeeth Peiris 47. Ishara Amarasinghe 3/10, Dilruwan Perera 2/6)
MAS Intimates Unichela – 104/2. 9.4 overs. (Mahela Udawattha 63*, Dilruwan Perera 22)
MAS Intimates Unichela won by 8 wickets.
The 4th match for the day saw an interesting end to it. Samapath Bank took on Commercial credit and finance which saw a nail bitter of a finish. Sampath bank batting first were bundled for 114 runs in 19 overs and a ball to spare with Sameen Kandanarachchi scoring 20 runs while Hasantha Fernando and Dilhara Lokuhetti chipped in with 24 and 22 runs respectively. Malinda Pushpakumara ended with figures of 4 for just 11 runs at the end of some fine display of bowling.
With a total of 115 runs to get the Commercial credit and Finance innings came to a standstill as the clouds opened up with the score at par on Duckworth and Lewis method at 93 for 5 wickets and 17 overs bowled. Ranga Cooray scored a top notch 39 runs to be unbeaten with partner Suraj Randiv on 29*. Suwanji Wadanayaka ended rather expensive conceding 23 runs for his 2 wickets.
Then came the super over, an exciting addition to the modern game and Commercial Credit and Finance managed to score 5 runs for the loss of 2 wickets in their allotted 6 balls while Sampatha Bank chased it down without losing a single wicket and a ball in hand. Samapth Bank won the match by 10 wickets on result of the Super over.
Chief Scores;
Sampath Bank – 114 all out. 19.5 overs (Sameen Kandanarachchi 20, Hasantha Fernando 24, Dilhara Lokuhettige 22. Malinda Pushpakumara 4/11)
Commercial Credit and Finance – 93/5. 17 overs (Ranga Cooray 38*, Suraj Randiv 29*. Sunji Wadanayaka 2/23
Super over:
Commercial credit and Finance – 5/2
Sampatha Bank – 6 for no loss.
Sampath Bank won by 10 wickets.
As the first day of the MCA Bharti Airtel T20 super tournament came to an end one can only expect the games to get better as the tournament progresses.
