MAS Holdings Kandurata confident of entering final

Chris Dhambarage

MAS Holdings Kandurata with some exciting players in their ranks are confident of making it to the final when the Sri Lanka Cricket organized inaugural SLT Inter Provincial Twenty20 limited overs cricket tournament gets underway on Thursday in Colombo.

Despite the absence of two of their top players Kumar Sangakkara and Muttiah Muralitharan the team is studded with some experienced players who have made an impact in the limited overs game.

MAS Holdings Kandurata under the leadership of Sri Lanka vice captain Kumar Sangakkara reached the final of the inaugural one day tournament in January and the present team will be hoping for a repeat performance.

This time the team will be captained by Kaushalya Weeraratne who is presently in the Caribbean having gained a recall into the Sri Lanka one day squad. The opening bowler of Ragama Cricket Club has been rewarded for some splendid bowling where he captured 37 wickets from nine outings in the SLC Premier League Tier A tournament.

Dashing middle order batsman Chamara Kapugedera who is also in the West Indies has been named vice captain of the MAS Holdings Kandurata team. However both Weeraratne and Kapugedera will miss the two opening matches of the tournament against Ruhuna and Wayamba respectively.

The manager of the team and former Sri Lanka opening batsman Chandika Hathurusinghe said that three additional players Jeewan Mendis (SSC), Amila Wettasinghe (CCC) and Indika Senaratne (Ragama CC) have been grafted into the side as replacements.

Mendis collected 304 runs from just four matches as a middle order batsman with one century and two fifties in the Premier League tournament. Wettasinghe too contributed just over three hundred runs for his club CCC in this tournament having made his appearance in seven outings.

The MAS Holdings Kandurata batting will be spearheaded by Tharanga Paranavithana who had a magnificent domestic season with the champion SSC team where he emerged as the highest run getter in the concluded SLC Premier League tournament. The stylish opening batsman will be hoping to continue with the same form having accumulated 893 runs inclusive of three centuries and two half centuries.

His teammate Thilan Samaraweera will also add more strength into the middle order together with Kanchana Gunawardena, Chinthaka Jayasinghe and Dilshan Vitharana. In fact middle order batsman Samaraweera will be looking to prove his capabilities in the shortest version of the game following a successful Test series against the West Indies.

Vitharana also had a tremendous season with Baduraliya SC where he piled up 553 runs with four half centuries in the SLC Premier League tournament. In addition Chinthaka Jayasinghe collected 379 runs for Bloomfield while Kanchana Gunawardena scored 543 runs for NCC in the same tournament.

But the cynosure of all eyes will be schoolboy Sachith Pathirana who is turning out to be a genuine all rounder following his heroics for the Sri Lanka Under 19 team during the recent International Cricket Council Youth World Cup held in Malaysia.

The dynamic all rounder from Trinity College Kandy was placed second in the race for the man of the series award at the Under 19 World Cup and will be determined to maintain the same momentum with the bat.

The MAS Holdings Kandurata team. Kaushalya Weeraratne (captain), Chamara Kapugedera (vice captain), Tharanga Paranavithana, Dimuth Karunaratne, Thilan Samaraweera, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, Kanchana Gunawardena, Dilshan Vitharana, Nadeera Nawala, Thilina Thushara, Akalanka Ganegama, Chaminda Vidanapathirana, Sachith Pathirana, Suraj Mohamed, Jeewan Mendis, Amila Wettasinghe and Indika Senaratne. Coach: Sunil Fernando. Manager: Chandika Hathurusinghe.

The fixtures: April 17 v Ruhuna at Colts, April 18 v Schools Invitation XI at Braybrooke Place, April 21 v Wayamba at Colts, April 23 v Basnahira North at Colts, April 24 v Basnahira South at BRC.