Right arm fast bowler Chalanka Weerasinghe grabbed a 9 wicket match bag and skipper Prashan Wickramasinghe scored twin half centuries to help Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club to beat fancied Colts Cricket Club by 3 wickets in the opening fixture of SLC Under-23 division 1 league tournament match played at Colts grounds.
Right arm fast bowler Chalanka Weerasinghe grabbed 9 wickets match bag and skipper Prashan Wickramasinghe scored twin half centuries to help Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club to beat fancied Colts Cricket Club by 3 wickets in the opening fixture of SLC Under-23 Division One League Tournament match played at Colts grounds.
Earlier in the game, Colts CC were bowled out for 172 runs in their 1st innings with opening batsman Shehan Fernando top scoring with 72 runs while skipper Bhanuka Rajapakshe contributed with 42 runs. Right arm off spin and left arm leg spin combo of Aravinda Premarathne and Anuk De Alwis shared 7 wickets amongst them while Chalanka Weerasinghe chipped in with 2 wickets. SLPACC made 276 with former Richmond skipper AK Tyron’s 90 and Captain Prashan Wickramasinghe’s 58 runs helping their cause. Sri Lankan off spinner Akila Dhananjaya and left arm spinner Charith Sudaraka shared five wickets.
Colts CC in their 2nd innings fared much better as they posted 299 runs batting more than 100 overs. Former Josephian wicket-keeper batsman Sadeera Samarawickrama top scored with a well compiled 50 runs while Akila Dananjaya showed he’s no mug with the bat as he made 44 valuable runs. Right arm fast bowler Chalanka Weerasinghe was the chief tormentor as he scalped 7 wickets. Chasing 196 runs to a well deserving victory, SLPACC lost 7 wickets as their batting struggled except their 1st innings batting heroes. Prashan Wickramasinghe steered the chase with 50 runs while AK Tyron finished off the game with an unbeaten 34 runs. Akila Dananjaya captured 3 wickets for the hosts.
Colts CC U23 (1st inn) – 172 all out in 30.5 overs : Shehan Fernando 74, Bhanuka Rajapaksa 43, Sanitha de Mel 25, Aravinda Premaratne 4/57, Chalanaka Weerasinghe 2/53, Anuk de Alwis 3/23.
SLPACC U23 (1st inn) – 276 all out in 69.2 overs : AK Tyron 90, Prashan Wickramasinghe 58, Aravinda Premaratne 42, Akila Dhananjaya 3/57, Charith Sudaraka 2/45, Sanitha de Mel 2/52, Bhanuka Rajapaksa 2/52.
Colts CC U23 (2nd inn) -299 all out in 103.2 overs : Sadeera Samarawickrama 50, Akila Dhananjaya 44, Priyamal Perera 39, Chalanaka Weerasinghe 7/97, Anuk de Alwis 3/79.
SLPACC U23 (2nd inn) – 196/7 in 58.2 overs : Prashan Wickramasinghe 50, A K Tyron 34*, Akila Dananjaya 3/44, Anuk Fenando 2/40
5 more matches commenced today around Colombo and all these five matches will be played till Sunday as this is a three-day tournament.
Defending champions Tamil Union CC got off to competitive start as they made 294 in their 1st innings at stumps on day 1 against Air Force SC at P.Sara Oval grounds. Air Force SC won the toss and elected to field and their decision backfired as Tamil Union opening batsman Pabasara Waduge enjoyed his batting knock scoring 79 runs while skipper Pulina Tharanga contributed with his bat as he made 45 runs. Dushan Vimukthi was the pick of the bowlers as he took 6 wickets for 61 runs. Air Force SC managed to score 38 runs for the loss of 1 wicket in 14 overs at the end of the day.
Even exchanges were made in another high profile game between Moors SC and NCC which commenced at Braybrooke place. Moors skipper Shehan Jayasuriya won the toss and elected to bat first and his batsmen toiled hard for their 1st innings total of 266. Right hand batsman Oshada Fernando scored a fluent knock of 91 runs while Ruwantha Kalepotha made a fighting 58 runs. Impressive off spinner Tharindu Kaushal took 4 wickets. NCC in their 1st batting essay was 110 for the loss of 3 wickets at close of play on day 1. Niroshan Dickwella made a quick-fire 53 runs in 44 balls.
Newly promoted Negombo CC batted out 85 overs in their 1st innings against Bloomfield CC which commenced at Bloomfield grounds. 18 year old Right handed opening batsman Akeel Inham top scored for the visitors with a fine knock of 65 while Shehan Anuruddika (57) and Sevinda Silva (52) contributed with elegant half centuries. Right arm seamer Imran Khan bowled superbly for his 5 wicket haul. Bloomfield CC batted out 3 overs scoring 10 runs for the loss of 1 wicket at stumps.
Binura Fernando and Kasun Madusanka of SSC ripped through the strong Ragama batting line up with a fierce fast bowling display as both seam bowlers shared 8 wickets to bundle out the visitors for 127 runs at SSC grounds. Former Josephian skipper Rosco Thattil fought valiantly for his 34 runs. SSC in their 1st innings were 160/6 in 48 overs at close of play with Kavindu Kulasekara missing out on a well-deserved half century by 1 run.
21 wickets fell on day 1 at CCC grounds as Moratuwa SC enjoying the upper hand in their game against CCC. Moratuwa SC failed to put up a challenging score on the board as they made only 174 in 57.2 overs with left hander Shanuka Dulaj top scoring with 41 runs while left arm chinamen spinner Lakshan Rangika capturing 4 wickets for the hosts. Thenuka Dananjaya and Sahan Nanayakkara combined together to rattle the hosts for 82 runs in 22.1 overs as Moratuwa SC got the early lead in this game which definitely will go down to the wire. Moratuwa SC lost their 1st wicket in the 2nd innings and in the final ball of the day to make it a bowlers dominating day at Maitland Crescent.
