Moors in sensational win over Bloomfield

SLC Premier League Cricket Review:

Chris Dhambarage

Moors Sports Club bounced back into recognition with a stunning first innings victory over Bloomfield during the third week of matches of the SLC Premier League Tier A three day tournament concluded during the weekend.

This was a tremendous effort from the Braybrooke Place club who went in as the complete underdogs after having lost their opening fixture outright against Colts CC at Havelock Park.

In contrast Bloomfield took the field with a great amount of confidence after having piled up over 550 runs in their previous outing against the Tamil Union which they won on the first innings quite convincingly.

However this time they collapsed sensationally to their lowest total as their batting was in shambles against some accurate bowling from the opposition. The chief destroyer of course was the new recruit Hasantha Fernando who played havoc with the Bloomfield batsmen to return a season best effort of five wickets for 2.

The former Sri Lanka and Chilaw Marians SC all rounder produced his best performance in this tournament to send Bloomfield crumbling to a mere 102 runs in their first innings. None of the Bloomfield batsmen were able to cope up against the pace of Hasantha Fernando who produced a mixture of pace and swing to mesmerize the opposition.

Even then Moors SC were forced to wait anxiously before overtaking their opponents total after the entire second day›s play was washed out due to heavy rain. The entire first session of the third and final day›s play was also ruined owing to overnight rain.

But Moors SC quickly got their act together and raced to their target that signalled their first victory of the tournament. They will be somewhat disappointed because they could have even forced an outright victory if not for the bad weather. However they would anyway take this win as a good morale booster ahead of the rest of the matches in the tournament.

CCC v Army SC

CCC also had the satisfaction of recording their maiden victory in the tournament after three unsuccessful attempts while overcoming newcomers Sri Lanka Army Sports Club on the first innings on their home grounds at Maitland Crescent.

Their success of course was in the balance at one stage after their batsmen had put up another disappointing performance. They were restricted to 252 runs in their first innings despite a magnificent century from Bathiya Perera.

The stylish middle order batsman rose to the occasion and kept one end occupied to avert another disaster having already lost their opening two games against Bloomfield and NCC respectively.

This time however CCC did well to defend their modest total thanks to a brilliant spell of bowling from young Sachith Pathirana. The Sri Lanka youth cap produced a real match winning performance for the first time this season while claiming outstanding figures of six wickets for 90 runs.

CCC of course went through some real anxious moments with Army SC making a desperate attempt to put up a decent score on the board. Their bowlers certainly did all the hard work by dismissing their opponents for 252 runs.

In fact Army SC did have a chance at one stage when skipper Manjula de Soysa, Karunaratne, Prasad and Balasuriya were at the crease. But once their top order had departed Army SC were under pressure as they failed to consolidate their position and fell short by 26 runs.

NCC v Tamil Union

NCC had the better of Tamil Union on the first innings in their rain hit SLC Premier League Tier tournament match worked off at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium last week.

NCC of course went through some anxious moments before overtaking their opponents challenging total of 277 runs on the final day.

They achieved their goal largely due to the effort of Malintha Gajanayake who steadied the innings with an unbeaten century.

Gajanayake led from the front and set the pace with a century stand along with all rounder Kosala Kulasekera. NCC however lost wickets at regular intervals despite Upul Chandana and Lasith Fernando also making useful contributions.

However Gajanayake held the middle order together with a solid batting performance and ensured his team would overtake their opponents total with four wickets to spare. Tamil Union certainly did well to make a match of it with Lassana Dias and Umesh Wijesiriwardena causing some damage with the ball.

Tamil Union however failed to capitalize from batting first on a good surface as their top order batsmen again put up a disappointing performance. No doubt there were significant contributions from wicket keeper batsman Lanka de Silva, Ashan Priyanjan and Isuru Udana.

However none of them were able to convert those half centuries into big hundreds which has been a major concern for Tamil Union throughout this tournament.

Had one of them played the sheet anchor role and carried his bat until the end then they would have certainly ended up with a 350 plus total.

But the NCC bowlers too kept on trying and they were rewarded for their consistency and perseverance with Akalanka Ganegama, Upul Chandana and Chanaka Komasaru leading the way.

Chilaw Marians SC v Baduraliya CC

Chilaw Marians SC cruised to their second successive victory while overcoming the giant killers Baduraliya CC on the first innings in their SLC Premier League Tier A tournament match worked off at the NCC grounds in Maitland Place last week.

This was another encouraging performance from Chilaw Marians SC who seemed to be striking form at the correct time. They made a pretty ordinary start to the campaign while going down badly to the defending champions SSC on the first innings.

But since then they have improved tremendously and are now looking more confident on the field as they try to consolidate their position in the league standings. Last week they were up against Baduraliya CC who had stunned NCC outright in their curtain raiser match of the tournament.

Chilaw Marians SC also went into this game with their heads high after having brought down the newcomers Sri Lanka Army Sports Club outright by one wicket in a thrilling encounter. But this time they did not panic and went about their task in their own style.

The only concern for Chilaw Marians SC was the fact that they could not build up a substantial lead which would have given them a chance of forcing an outright victory. But their hopes were dashed as the entire second days play was washed out due to heavy rain.

The bowlers did a fantastic job to restrict Baduraliya CC for less than 150 runs in their first innings. The spinners Dinuk Hettiarachchi and Gayan Wijekoon combined quite effectively to cause the damage while sharing eight wickets between them.

In fact Hettiarachchi has been quite consistent throughout the tournament as he produced another penetrative spell of bowling than earned him a superb five wicket haul. However the Chilaw Marians SC batsmen threw away a great chance of making a huge total while losing some early wickets during their run chase.

They were rescued to a great extent by the middle order combination of Milinda Siriwardena and Janaka Gunaratne who figured in a match winning fifth wicket partnership of 128 runs. Both went on to make half centuries as Chilaw Marians SC overtook their opponents total quite convincingly at the end.

SSC v Ragama CC

The key match of the weekend between the defending champions SSC and the table leaders Ragama CC was severely interrupted by bad weather at Braybrooke Place during the weekend.

Even the first innings of SSC could not be completed as play was possible only during the third and final day with the match ending in a no decision. SSC of course took the opportunity to have some batting practice by rattling up a formidable 329 for 8 from the limited period.

Their innings was built around a splendid knock of 93 from Navin Perera who missed out a century for the second time this season. All rounders Shalika Karunanayake and Kaushal Lokuarachchi also boosted their total with valuable contributions.

The bright spot for Ragama CC was the bowling of Malinga Bandara who grabbed five wickets to contain the powerful SSC batting to a certain extent.