Murali hero for Kandurata

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Kandurata, Basnahira South and Ruhuna Province notched up easy victories on the opening day of the Sri Lanka Cricket organised SLT Inter Provincial cricket tournament matches which were worked off in Colombo yesterday.

The best performance probably came from the Kandurata Province team where they had the better of Basnahira North Province by six wickets with three overs to spare in their match worked off at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place.

The match winner for Kandurata was their spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan who celebrated his appointment as Sri Lanka’s new vice captain with a splendid four wicket haul.

The champion off spinner captured four wickets for 16 runs from his four overs to help Kandurata Province restrict their opponents Basnahira North Province for a modest 121 for 9 from their 20 overs.

The Basnahira North innings would have been in deep trouble if not for a fighting knock of 43 from Bathiya Perera who stroked four boundaries while facing 42 deliveries. The rest of the batting simply collapsed against the pace spin combination of Thilina Thushara Mirando and Muttiah Muralitharan

Kandurata Province of course lost two early wickets during their run chase but Chamara Kapugedera and Chinthaka Jayasinghe took them through safely with an unfinished fifth wicket partnership.

Basnahira North: 121 for 9 in 20 overs (B. Perera 43, M. Pushpakumara 18, T. Thushara 3 for 23, M. Muralitharan 4 for 16)

Kandurata: 122 for 4 in 16.3 overs (C. Kapugedera 35 n.o, C. Jayasinghe 29 n.o, N. Kulasekera 2 for 26)

Basnahira South win

Basnahira South produced a fine all round performance to beat Wayamba Province by 50 runs in their SLT Inter Provincial cricket tournament match played at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place yesterday.

Basnahira South hit up the days highest total while scoring 169 for 6 from their 20 overs. The feature in their batting was that all their top order batsmen were able to make useful contributions.

However Gihan Rupasinghe and Chamara Silva were outstanding as they scored 46 and 48 not out respectively to put their side in a winning position.

Wayamba Province then in reply folded up for 119 runs in the 19th over despite a sparkling 42 from all rounder Kaushalya Lokuarachchi who faced only 26 deliveries hoisting two sixes and three boundaries.

The two seamers Suranga Lakmal and Ruchira Perera struck early for Basnahira South with two wickets each while leg spinner Malinga Bandara added the finishing touches with three wickets for 27.

Basnahira South: 169 for 6 in 20 overs (M. Warnapura 20, G. Rupasinghe 46, C. Silva 48 n.o, C. Welagedera 3 for 38, I. Udana 2 for 25)

Wayamba: 119 in 18.4 overs (K. Lokuarachchi 42, S. Lakmal 2 for 20, R. Perera 2 for 19, M. Bandara 3 for 27)

Ruhuna crush shools

The star studded Ruhuna Province team cruised to a smashing eight wicket victory over the Schools XI in their SLT Inter Provincial cricket tournament match played at Braybrooke Place yesterday.

The Schools XI were shot out for just 73 runs from 17 overs against the pace of Sujeewa de Silva (4 for 16) and Tharanga Lakshitha (2 for 18). Ruhuna Province then took only eleven overs to reach their target and complete a convincing victory.

The schoolboys did well to claim the prize wickets of openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga very early in the innings but Saman Jayantha and Indika de Saram carried them safely with an unfinished third wicket partnership.

Schools XI: 73 in 17 overs (B. Rajapaksa 26, S. de Silva 4 for 16, T. Lakshitha 2 for 18, S. Jayasuriya 2 for 1)

Ruhuna: 74 for 2 in 10.5 overs (S. Jayantha 31 n.o, I. de Saram 31 n.o)