Ceylinco Fingara Mercantile Premier cricket champions
Ceylinco Fingara emerged victorious in the Mercantile Premier League
knock-out tournament 2008, beating defending champions Sampath Bank by 2
wickets in the final at the Colts grounds.
Ceylinco Fingara had a great combination of international cricketers
of the calibre of Marvan Atapattu, Upul Chandana, Kumar Sangakkara,
Thilan Thushara, Chanaka Welagedera and skipper India de Saram;
experienced and mature cricketers like Sanjeewa Weerasinghe, Anil
Rideegammanagedera, Ruvin Peiris, Malitha Gajanayake and Akalanka
Ganegama; and talented young cricketers such as Sachithra Senanayake,
Chaminda Vidanapathiran, Chanaka Komasaru, Nisal Randika, Dushantha
Ranatunge, Tharanga Lakshita and Damith Mapa.
The team performed creditably in the league round of the tournament
to retain the No. 2 position.
Then in the knock-out round, the Ceylinco Fingara performed to their
true potential by comprehensively outplaying East West Marketing by 119
runs in the quarter-final and Janashakthi Insurance by 8 wickets in the
semi-final, displaying high quality cricket.
The team went on to hold their nerves in the tense final to achieve
victory by 2 wickets and become worthy champions.
The Ceylinco Fingara team seta bout their task in a very professional
manner. The foundation was laid at the think session and team building
programme held in Kandy, followed by the specialised training programme
on ‘The Art of Winning’, prior to the commencement of the tournament.
Team practice sessions conducted with the use of state-of-the-art
high tech facilities at Fingara International Cricket Academy gave the
team the winning edge. The Ceylinco Fingara team also had the privilege
of support services of a physio, trainer, team assistant, F&B
coordinator, and was moulded and energized into a winning combination by
their coach Naveed Nawaz, cricket secretary Romesh Jayasinghe and team
manager Gihan Silva.
Ceylinco Fingara players who received awards were Anil
Rideegammanagedera (Man of the Series), Ruvin Peiris (Best Batsman) and
Malitha Gajanayake (Man of the Final). In addition, Chanaka Komasaru had
the best bowling figures of 5 for 38 and the Ceylinco Fingara team
recorded the highest total of 272 for 8 in the tournament. |
