Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) beat Moors Sports Club by 5 runs (D/L method) in the 2nd semi-final of the Premier Limited Overs Tournament 2014/15 and booked a place against Colts Cricket Club in the final.
Winning the toss and electing to field on a slow turf at R.Premadasa, SSC got off to a good start as fast bowler Binura Fernando clean bowled the Moors Sports Club opener Tillakaratne Sampath in the first over of the game as the score read 0/1.
The Moors batsmen tried to kick start their innings but wickets at regular intervals halted their process. The top 5 batsmen were dismissed for only 93 runs as SSC took a firm grip on the game
Janaka Gunaratne top scored for Moors with 64 runs better than a run a ball and steered the Moors innings to a respectable 230/8 in their allotted 50 overs. Janaka Gunaratne remained unbeaten on 64 with 3 fours and 4 sixes. Harsha Cooray scored 41 which included 2 fours. Thisara Perera and Jeffrey Vandersay bagged 2 wickets each for SSC.
With rain interrupting, the game was reduced to 37 overs with SSC requiring 156 runs to win. Mahela Jayawardena was the first casualty for SSC as he was dismissed in the first over of the SSC innings for 4 runs.
The SSC innings was similar to the Moors innings as they too did not manage any momentum in their run chase as wickets fell at regular intervals. SSC were 84/4 when Minod Bhanuka was bowled by Janaka Gunaratne for 52 off 28 balls.
Thilina Kandamby held firm at one end as he scored an unbeaten 47 to help SSC score 161 at the end of 37 overs. With this SSC won the game by 5 runs on the D/L method and progressed to the final of the Premier Limited Overs Tournament 2014/15 where they will be meeting Colts Cricket Club in the final on the 21st of December at the R. Premadasa stadium in Colombo.
Chief Scores:
Moors– 230/8 in 50 overs: Janaka Gunaratne 64*, Harsha Cooray 41, Jeffrey Vandersay 2/37, Thisara Perera 2/49
SSC– 161/5 in 37 overs: Minod Bhanuka 52, Thilina Kandamby 47*,Chaturanga de Silva 1/24.
