SLC Premier Trophy Review:

Moors SC off to a fine start

CHRIS DHAMBARAGE

Moors Sports Club have made a great start to the SLC Premier Trophy four day inter club Tier A cricket tournament. Last week they came out with a stupendous performance to beat the defending champions CCC outright by four wickets on their home grounds at Braybrooke Place.

The manner in which they completed their task was quite outstanding because they romped home with more than two days to spare in a low scoring contest. The conditions were more suitable for the bowlers as 36 wickets fell for a total of 594 runs.

Moors SC who were the runners up at the recent Premier Trophy one day tournament certainly had the bowlers to exploit their home conditions as they dismissed their opponents for under 150 runs in both innings. The toss also played a vital role and CCC were up against a seaming wicket on the opening day.

The turning point of course was when Moors SC built up a first innings lead of 64 runs thanks to a fighting half century from their captain Dilhara Lokuhettige. The dynamic all rounder rose to the occasion and hit the highest score of the match under extremely difficult batting conditions.

Lokuhettige's knock of 76 was worth more than a century because he was under tremendous pressure with wickets tumbling quite regularly at the other end. He stood like a rock and kept one end occupied after CCC had threatened to stage a fight back by capturing a couple of early wickets.

But the real matchwinner for Moors SC was their leg spinner Rangana Herath who picked up a matchbag of nine wickets to underline his dominance in this game. Herath has been among the wickets for his club in the recent past and this was probably the first time that he had played such a major role in guiding his team towards success.

Colts CC v Bloomfield

Colts Cricket Club also made an equally brilliant start to their campaign while defeating Bloomfield outright by 29 runs in another absorbing contest worked off at Reid Avenue.

Their success was even more significant considering the fact that they had earlier conceded first innings points rather tamely. But they produced an improved batting performance in the second innings and that really lifted their morale and helped them to turn the game in their favour.

Even then they were not out of danger because they were defending a modest total of 187 runs which was required by Bloomfield to wrap up the game with plenty of overs still remaining.

Colts CC were under tremendous pressure and they were looking for a hero who could change the situation with a matchwinning spell of bowling. Nuwan Kulasekera did exactly what his team required at that moment and the reward was a seven wicket haul for some penetrative bowling.

The fast bowler had been recalled to the Sri Lanka team for the forthcoming tour of Australia and he was determined to prove his fitness and form in this opening fixture of the season. He had a pretty ordinary spell in the first innings but responded magnificently to the occasion as he ripped through the Bloomfield batting lineup with a devastating performance in the second innings.

The result was that Bloomfield were bundled out for a paltry 157 runs on their home grounds which was even more embarrassing and humiliating. The Reid Avenue Club did everything right until the final session of the third day from which point they lost their way through some indiscipline batting.

Bloomfield had the game well under control having already collected first innings points before Colts CC came back strongly through some superb contributions from Dilruwan Perera and Jeevantha Kulatunga.

Baduraliya SC v Chilaw Marians SC

Baduraliya Sports Club staged one of the finest comebacks in the domestic scene to pull off a thrilling outright victory over Chilaw Marians SC in their SLC Premier Trophy inter club match worked off at Havelock Park.

Baduraliya SC really worked hard for their success and were rewarded for some consistent bowling at the end. They were almost down and out after having conceded a first innings lead by the second day of the match.

But they came back strongly with an improved batting performance in the second innings and piled up over three hundred runs that set the pace for an exciting contest. Chilaw Marians SC of course had the batting with them to reach that target and at one stage they were well on course towards victory.

This was mainly due to a patient century from Harsha Cooray who played the sheet anchor role and with the entire top order providing some excellent support. However Baduraliya SC never gave up hopes as they worked hard on the field through some accurate bowling.

Former Sri Lanka fast bowler Dinusha Fernando was in fact the hero for Baduraliya SC as he fashioned a memorable victory while claiming five wickets in the second innings.

SSC v Ragama CC

In contrast SSC cruised to an easy 241 run outright victory over Ragama CC in their SLC Premier Trophy match worked off at Maitland Place. Their success was always there from the moment they took a massive first innings lead of 153 runs.

From that point onwards it was virtually one way traffic as SSC consolidated their position before driving the final nail mid way on the fourth and final day. Sachithra Senanayake added the finishing touches for SSC by claiming a five wicket haul.

Ragama CC were determined to delay SSC's victory march by producing an improved batting performance in their second attempt.

The openers Dushantha Ranatunga and Harsha Vithana did exactly that with some solid batting and later all rounder Kaushalya Weeraratne showed a lot of spirit with a stubborn innings.

However SSC found a match winner in the form of Sachithra Senanayake who made amends for his failure in the first innings by returning outstanding figures of five wickets for 50.

NCC v Tamil Union

NCC's hopes of registering an outright victory was shattered by some stubborn batting from the Tamil Union later order as their SLC Premier Trophy inter club match ended in a draw at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium.

Tamil Union of course took first innings points after they had made 227 in reply to NCC's score of 194. Even then NCC could consider themselves rather unfortunate because they were just one wicket away from collecting the maximum points.

The Maitland Place Club put up a tremendous batting performance in their second attempt to rattle up a massive 441 with middle order batsman Chanaka Wijesinghe hitting a career best 250. In fact the game turned out to be a memorable one for Wijesinghe who also carried his bat with an unbeaten half century in the first innings.

However Sajith Fernando produced an equally brilliant innings for Tamil Union to save his team from a certain defeat. Fernando showed a great amount of concentration while compiling an unbeaten 142 while batting under extremely difficult conditions.