Southern Province stunned Central Province to emerge champions of the Sri Lanka Cricket womens under 26 provincial tournament which concluded at the Colts cricket ground in Colombo today(15th).
Rain played a pivotal part in this game as it halted play for close to 4 hours during the innings of Central, who won the toss and batted first. This also meant that the game was reduced to a 37 over affair and Central were able to muster only 84 runs leaving a target of 81 off 37 overs for the Southern girls according to the Duckworth and Lewis (D/L) calculations. Sandani Thiwanka picked up 3 wickets for Southern while Nilangika and Achini shared 2 wickets each. The only notable contribution with the bat for Central was Janani Kaushalya who made a valuable 20*(n.o) on a difficult pitch for batting.
In reply, Southern struggled right throught their innings but just about held their nerve to a tense 1 wicket victory to bring out wild celebrations at the colts cricket ground this evening. Malsha Shehani looked good during her stay but she couldn’t finish the job for Southern as the tail-enders held their nerve to bring them home whilst keeping the spectators on the edge of their seats. Mihiri(2/20) starred with the ball for Central once again along with Ruchini Samarasinghe(3/16) but it was not good enough to prevent Southern Province from emerging as the 2015 womens under 26 provincial Champions.
Chief scores
Central Province U26
84 in 35 overs (Janani Kaushalya 20*, Sandani Thiwanka 3/13, Nilangika Sanjeewani 2/13, Achini Kulasuriya 2/24)
Southern Province U26
(revised target- 81 runs off 37 overs)
83-9 in 36.2 overs (Malsha Shehani 20, Ruchini Samarasinghe 3/16, Mihiri Madushani 2/20)
Final result – Southern Province won by 1 wicket(D/L)
