The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Major League Premier Super 8s and Premier Plate tournament kicked off last week while the Premier Tier B tournament neared its close with the tournament being thrown wide open when Negombo CC beat table toppers Air Force SC.
11 centuries were made in the Premier Super 8s and Plate tournaments while 10 bowlers managed to capture 5 wickets or more in an innings during the weekend. Chilaw Marians have stamped their authority for the championship in the tier A with another outright win over Saracens SC, while SSC also closed the gap with an outright win. In the Plate tournament, Army and Bloomfield were involved in an exhilarating tie but both teams will need to make sure to stay in the top five to avoid relegation, after a relatively poor season thus far.
Shashin Dilranga hit his maiden first class century for BRC in their loss to Colts while Oshada Fernando and Sachithra Serasinghe hit centuries in Chilaw’s dominant performance against Saracens SC. Serasinghe in the meantime has also moved on to the top of the batting charts with 786 runs in just 7 games.
Kaushal Silva and Chamara Kapugedara starred with swashbuckling centuries in their encounter against Ports Authority where SSC went on to win by an innings, while it was a run feast in the match between Badureliya and CCC with as many as five batsmen recording centuries from both teams. Badureliya eventually fell short by 31 runs in their first innings after making a brilliant effort of hunting down the 480/5 declared made by CCC, with Salinda Ushan and Subramanium Anand making crucial centuries. Ron Chandraguptha, Madhawa Warnapura and Lasith Abeyratne made centuries for CCC in their massive first innings score.
Moors recorded a vital first innings win over Tamil Union to keep their hopes alive of winning the Plate championship, as Irosh Samarasuriya hit a magnificent century in the second innings.
Malinda Pushpakumara captured six wickets in his teams win over Saracens while Nisala Tharaka and Dushan Vimukthi captured six wickets in an innings for their respective teams. The other bowlers who excelled during the weekend with five wicket hauls were Suraj Randiv, Nishan Pieris, Saliya Saman, Asitha Fernando, Malith Mahela, Ashan Priyanjan and Tharindu Ratnayake.
Air Force SC were beaten comprehensively by Negombo CC who stormed into second position on the back of a brilliant all-round performance by Ravindra Karunaratne in the tier B segment, while the other three matches in the segment ended in a draw. With two weeks of cricket remaining in the tier B, it is still hard to predict who will emerge champions or who will be relegated from the segment.
The four day encounter in the Super 8s between SSC and NCC is definitely the standout game of the week and you can catch the live action of it on all four days on the ThePapare.com, Dialog TV channel no.1 and Dialog MyTV with the match scheduled to begin tomorrow, the 31st of January.
Watch LIVE – SLC Major League Super 8 Tournament – SSC vs NCC
 Major League Premier Super 8s and Premier Plate tournament kicked off last week while the Premier Tier B tournament){kind=link}