Chilaw Marians in stunning win over Bloomfield

SLC Premier Trophy Cricket Review:

Chris Dhambarage

Chilaw Marians SC produced a giant killing performance as they brought down Bloomfield outright to grab major honours after the third week of matches in the on going Sri Lanka Cricket Premier Trophy inter club four day Tier A league tournament.

The manner in which they completely outplayed their opponents was really outstanding because they took charge of the situation from the beginning. Another feature in their game was that they were able to rally around through team work which made their task much easier.

In fact in both innings Chilaw Marians SC were able to cross the three hundred run mark while producing three centurions in the match. First it was their captain Hasantha Fernando who led the way with an attacking 105 that set the pace for a match winning total.

Opener Mahela Udawatte and all rounder Gayan Wijekoon then consolidated their position with two magnificent centuries in the second innings. The pair took the game completely away from Bloomfield with some powerful batting that sealed the game in their favour.

Chilaw Marians SC still had some work to complete and they were banking on the key bowlers to deliver the goods. Dinuka Hettiarachchi did exactly that with a four wicket haul in the second innings as Bloomfield crashed to 182 runs after they were set a massive target of 468.

Tamil Union v Colts CC

Tamil Union came out with their best performance to register a thrilling nine run outright victory over Colts CC in their SLC Premier Trophy match worked off at Havelock Park during the weekend.

In a low scoring and tense encounter Tamil Union held their nerves while under pressure to dismiss their opponents for 237 in the second innings. Their success of course was in the balance until the end after having obtained a close first innings lead.

In fact Tamil Union struggled for runs in both innings and eventually they were faced with a tough task of defending a modest target of 247 runs. However they never gave up hopes and kept on trying through their limited resources while picking up wickets at regular intervals.

The most important fact was that Colts CC believed in themselves and they were able to grab the opportunity once they saw an opening. The contributions of each player certainly played a vital role in their success but the efforts of Muthumudalige Pushpakumara was quite exceptional.

The dynamic all rounder hammered a sparkling century while contributing almost half of their teams total in the second innings. He took the Colts CC attack single handedly and raced to the three figure mark from just 96 deliveries.

Pushpakumara also made his presence felt with the ball while claiming three wickets each during the two innings respectively. Colts CC of course had missed a great opportunity of making amends after having conceded first innings points earlier.

They were well on course at one stage to collect the maximum points with skipper Malintha Warnapura leading the way.

The stylish opener took up the responsibility and put his team on the right track together with Dhanuka Pathirana who also completed a half century. But the Colts CC middle order failed to consolidate their position and succumbed under pressure with only all rounder Angelo Mathews offering any kind of resistance.

CCC v Ragama CC

CCC bounced back into recognition with a fantastic performance as they trounced Ragama CC outright by nine wickets in their SLC Premier Trophy Tier A fixture worked off at Maitland Crescent last week.

Even then they will be somewhat disappointed that they could not exploit the opposition fully where their batting line up managed to score only 264 runs. The only bright spot in their batting was the fine century of Anushka Polonowita who went on to make a superb 113 in their first innings total of 264 runs.

However the CCC bowlers were in tremendous form as they really made amends to bundle out their opponents for under 150 runs in both innings. This was a great effort on a good batting surface as they cruised home with more than a day to spare.

The pace spin combination of Sujeewa de Silva and Nisitha Rupasinghe produced great results as the pair combined quite effectively to fashion an easy victory for the home side. In fact left arm paceman Sujeewa de Silva was in devastating form while claiming a five wicket haul in the second innings.

The Ragama CC batting simply could not cope up with the pace and swing of Sujeewa de Silva who simply ran through the opposition with outstanding figures of five wickets for 48 runs.

Moors SC v Baduraliya

Moors Sports Club came out with another fine all round performance to beat the giant killers Baduraliya Sports Club outright by seven wickets in their SLC Premier Trophy encounter worked off at Braybrooke Place last week.

In fact Moors SC's success was always there from the moment they skittle out their opponents for a season lowest 49 runs in the first innings. They kept the pressure on the opposition from there onwards and added the finishing touches quite convincingly with more than a day to spare.

Even then the fact that Baduraliya SC took the game at least into the third day was a great achievement following their batting debacle in the first innings.

The manner in which they fought back was really outstanding when at one stage it looked as if they would surrender quite meekly.

Baduraliya SC completely reversed their fortunes in the second innings by rattling up a formidable 329 runs with their captain Hemantha Wickremaratne again leading from the front. Despite this minor setback Moors SC were very much in control of the situation and their eventual target in the second innings was a mere 83 runs.

The three key players who contributed well towards their success were undoubtedly Lakshan Perera, all rounder Dilhara Lokuhettige and leg spinner Rangana Herath. The latter in fact had the chance of adding the finishing touches by capturing six wickets in the second innings.

The early damage of course was done by Lakshan Perera together with Anil Rideegammanagedera and Dilhara Lokuhettige who later hit a top score of 94 in their first innings total of 295.

SSC v NCC

SSC cleared a massive psychological barrier while overcoming their traditional rivals NCC on the first innings in a key SLC Premier Trophy Tier A match worked off at Maitland Place last week.

SSC easily overtook their opponents total of 273 runs through a fantastic batting display with veteran Thilan Samaraweera leading the way. The 31 year old former Sri Lanka cap displayed a tremendous amount of concentration and determination while facing 179 deliveries in completing his second century in the competition.

The right hander has a top score of 125 and four other half centuries which has made him as the second highest run getter so far with an excellent average of 96.75.

This was after SSC had made a good start to their run chase with opener Tharanga Paranavithana and Kaushal Silva scoring half centuries. The SSC later order batsmen too made useful contributions with all rounder Dhammika Prasad scoring exactly fifty runs.

NCC of course had a daunting task to save the game as well as to keep their reputation intact.

They in fact made certain that they would not make the same mistake twice by producing an improved batting display in the second innings. Stylish opener Kanchana Gunawardena rose to the occasion with a magnificent 185 that helped NCC to reach an impressive 393 in their second attempt.

He played the sheet anchor role and held the batting together with the back up support coming from Chanaka Wijesinghe and Malintha Gajanayake.