The semi-finals of the Women’s Division I 50 over tournament concluded earlier today with Navy SC (A) and Army SC (A) registering comfortable wins over Army SC (B) and Air Force SC (A) to book their places in the final to be held on the 29th of June. The teams will meet on the 29th of June for the grand finale at the MCA grounds in Colombo.
1st Semi-final – Navy SC (A) vs Army SC (B)
The 1st semi-final between the defending champions Navy A and Army B was held at the Free Trade Zone grounds in Katunayake. Navy won the toss and took 1st lease of what is traditionally a batsman-friendly pitch. They started well with 3 of their 5 top order batters going past the 30 run mark. Young Hasini Perera was the star with the bat, making 63 off 93 balls while Eshani Kaushalya and Prasadini Weerakkody lifted the run-rate with some well place boundaries. The latter half of the Navy innings fell away with none of the batters getting into double figures as Navy made it to 242 in their 50 overs.
Ganesha Chamari and Ayesha Prabodhanie did the damage with the ball, picking up 3 wickets apiece.
Unfortunately though their bowling had been able to pull the Navy ladies back, Army B’s batting let them down as they were dismissed for 64 in 30 overs. Inoka Ranaweera picked up another 6 wicket haul, her second of the tournament. The left arm orthodox bowler has now claimed 16 wickets in just 4 games.
Navy SC (A) 242/9 (50) Hasini Perera 63, Lasanthi Madushani 35, Ganesha Chamari 3/22, Ayesha Prabodhanie 3/39
Army SC (B) 64 (30) Inoka Ranaweera 6/26
Result – Navy SC (A) won by 174 runs
Air Force SC (A) vs Army SC (A)
Army SC (A) won the toss and put the star-studded Air Force team in to bat at the Colts Cricket Grounds in Colombo. Air Force, which is made up of quite a few national cricketers has had lots of success chasing in the tournament thus far with Chamari Atapattu doing a bulk of the scoring. This time around however, the openers Atapattu and Yasoda Mendis were dismissed within the 1st 8 overs, leaving the team in trouble at 10/2. Dilani Manodara and Sanduni Abeywickrama staged a brief comeback, however they never quite recovered from the bad start and another collapse saw them dismissed for 116 off 46.4 overs.
Niluka Karunaratne and Lakmali Methananda stunned the Air Force women with some fantastic bowling to pick up 8 wickets between them.
The Army Women were in deep trouble at 36/3 as the Air Force Women fought back strongly. However Roshni Perera and Nipuni Hansika put together an invaluable partnership of 34 runs to drag them out of trouble. Hansika played a crucial role in the win as she remained unbeaten to guide Army SC home. With the win, the Army Women were finally able to break the hold Air Force and Navy have been having on the finals of Sri Lanka’s premier domestic tournament.
Air Force SC (A) 116 (46.4) Sanduni Abeywickrama 25, Niluka Karunaratne 4/22, Lakmali Meththananda 4/23
Army SC – 117/5 in (40.4) Nipuni Hansika 33*, Roshini Perera 28, Niluka Karunaratne 24, Chamari Atapattu 2/27.
Result – Army SC won by 5 wickets
 and Army SC (A) registering comfortable wins over Army SC (B) and Air Force SC (A) to book their places in the final to be held on the 29th of June. The teams will meet on the 29th of June for the grand finale at the MCA grounds in Colombo.){kind=link}