Premier Cricket Review:

Baduraliya CC off to a flying start

Chris Dhambarage

Baduraliya Cricket Club have made a great start to the new SLC inter club cricket season. Last week they produced a stupendous performance to beat the more fancied NCC team outright by an innings and two runs in their Tier A tournament opening fixture worked off at Maitland Place.

Their success had a great amount of significance because they had finished at the bottom of the points able in the previous championship and was in real danger of being demoted into the Tier B tournament.

But all their hard work and efforts in finding recognition to the club has paid evidence as they have been able to steal the limelight in the very first outing of the tournament. They showed a lot of determination on the field from the beginning to grab the initiative and then added e finishing touches in a spectacular manner.

No doubt they were up against a formidable side and performing away from home but they did not care much to their opponent›s reputation and went about their task in their own style. They succeeded in dismissing the strong NCC batting line up for under two hundred runs in both innings.

This was a tremendous effort considering the fact that Baduraliya CC did not field any big guns in their bowling line up. But they rallied around with the talent available with them and concentrated more on team work. In fact this was the key to their success as the entire team contributed towards completing a morale boosting victory. Their bowling attack comprising of Niroshan Bandaratilleke, Duncan Arnolda, Pradeep Jayaprakash, Amila Prasad and Amila Ratnayake all did a fantastic job to mesmerize the NCC batsmen.

In the batting department too Baduraliya CC did not have any star players in their line up but the senior players like T. M. Sampath, Alankara Asanka and Rasika Priyadarshana all rose to the occasion and put up their best effort to fashion this victory.

Colts CC v Moors SC

Colts CC too have made a promising start to their campaign as they outplayed Moors SC outright by an innings and 68 runs in their encounter played at Havelock Park last week.

This was certainly sweet revenge for Colts CC because the last year›s game ended in a controversial fashion where the match was awarded to Moors Sports Club with penalty points. This time of course Colts CC did nothing wrong on the field as they accomplished their mission with a real professional approach. They first took control of the situation by piling up a huge first innings total of 502 for 7.

Middle order batsman Dhanuka Pathirana played the sheet anchor role with a magnificent knock of 150 and the back up support came from skipper Malintha Warnapura, Dilruwan Perera, Jeewantha Kulatunga, Chaminda Vaas and Rashan Peiris.

The bowling honours went to their left arm spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon who struck early form with a matchbag of ten wickets. Colts CC of course were running out of time and they had less than two sessions of play to dismiss the opposition for the second time in the match.

But Sajeewa Weerakoon rose to the occasion and delivered the goods with a deadly spell of bowling that bundled out Moors SC for 222 in their second innings. He also received enough support from Ruchira Perera and Dilruwan Perera as they completed a rousing victory with plenty of overs to spare.

This was no doubt a tough task for Moors SC who could have anyway escaped with a first innings defeat. All they needed was to occupy the crease for just over to two sessions after they had being asked to follow on. Dhammika Sudarshana and all rounder Dilhara Lokuhettige both got good starts but they failed to consolidate their position and the rest of the batting simply collapsed under mounting pressure.

Bloomfield v CCC

Bloomfield will be delighted with their performances last week as they trounced CCC outright by 148 runs in their key match worked off n their home grounds at Reid Avenue.

Even then their success was in the balance at one stage as they slumped to 148 runs in their first innings. However their bowlers really made amends for that failure and ran through the CCC batting to gain a close first innings lead. Bloomfield never looked back from there onwards as they went on to strengthen their position with an improved batting performance in the second innings.

However they will need to further boost their batting department because they managed only 276 runs in their second attempt. They were of course undone by a fabulous spell of bowling from CCC paceman Sujeeva de Silva who had the credit of performing the first hattrick of the tournament. But still the target was beyond CCC›s reach as they collapsed for the second time in the match for less than 150 runs.

The chief wreckers for Bloomfield were Tharanga Lakshitha, Shanuka Dissanayake, Chinthaka Jayasinghe and Tyronne Gamage who performed to their potential through some consistent line and length bowling.

Ragama CC v Tamil Union

Ragama CC got off to a promising start as they overcame Tamil Union on the first innings in their Premier League Tier A tournament match worked off at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium last week.

Even then Ragama CC could have collected the maximum points as they fell short by just 20 runs from pulling off an outright victory. They were well on course towards reaching that target at one stage after opener Ian Daniel, Lahiru Thirimanna and Indika de Saram had provided a solid start.

However none of these top order batsmen were able to bat right through to the end of the innings and as a result panic crept into their side while losing a couple of quick wickets under pressure.

Ragama CC were forced to put up their shutters as they finally finished on a dangerous 191 for 8 in their second innings. This was a contrasting performance to their first innings where their top order batsmen were in excellent form with Ian Daniel leading the way.

The elegant opening batsman got his act together on his debut for Ragama CC to compile a splendid 165 that helped them to build up a substantial first innings lead. They had done extremely well earlier to get rid of the Tamil Union side for a modest 207.

However Ragama CC experienced some stubborn resistance on the final day as Tamil Union came out with a determined effort in their attempt to salvage some their pride. Sajith Fernando led from the front with a painstaking knock of 94 and received valuable support from Sachithra Serasinghe, Jeewan Mendis, Lanka de Silva, Isuru Udana and Umesh Wijesiriwardena.

SSC v Chilaw Marians SC

The defending champions SSC had to be content with a first innings victory over Chilaw Marians SC in their SLC Premier League Tier A tournament opening match played at Maitland Place last week. SSC of course set the pace for an outright victory by rattling up a formidable 319 and then dismissing their opponents for 186 runs. But their hopes of adding the finishing touches were spoiled by a stubborn batting effort from Chilaw Marians SC on the third and final day.

Suresh Niroshan stood between a SSC outright victory and first innings defeat for Chilaw Marians SC as he compiled a fighting knock of 112 under trying circumstances. Janaka Gunaratne also hit an unbeaten half century as Chilaw Marians SC reached an impressive 274 for 6 in their second innings.

SSC of course had the satisfaction of producing two centurions in this outing. First it was the vice captain Kaushal Silva who stroked an elegant 133 to help his team to post over three hundred runs in the first innings.

The experienced Thilan Samaraweera then snatched the opportunity to make a well composed 111 in their second innings and extend their overall lead beyond their opponents reach.