Inter Provincial semis on Saturday

Chris Dhambarage

The semifinal line up was completed at the conclusion of the fifth and final round of matches in the Sri Lanka Cricket organised SLT Inter Provincial Twenty20 cricket tournament continued in Colombo yesterday.

The table leaders and the only unbeaten side in the tournament Basnahira South will take on Kandurata Province in the first semifinal while Wayamba Province who finished second in the table will confront Ruhuna Province in the second semifinal.

Both games are scheduled for this Saturday at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place and the final will be worked off on Sunday at the same venue.

Basnahira South maintained their unbeaten record to make it five in a row with a four wicket victory over Ruhuna Province in their final league match worked off at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place yesterday.

Ruhuna Province were restricted to 158 for 9 from their 20 overs with Suranga Lakmal and Ruchira Perera sharing the wickets. Indika de Saram and Saman Jayantha gave Ruhuna Province a good start while Ashan Priyanjan and all rounder Sajeewa Weerakoon further boosted their total with useful contributions.

However they were unable to defend that total as Basnahira South cruised to their target with nearly two overs to spare. Opener Dilruwan Perera led the run chase with a breezy 32 while Chamara Silva consolidated their position with a 31 ball 44 that contained one six and four boundaries.

Ruhuna: 158 for 9 in 20 overs (U. Tharanga 17, I. de Saram 32, S. Jayantha 21, A. Priyanjan 27, S. Weerakoon 28, S. Lakmal 2 for 29, R. Perera 2 for 38)

Basnahira South: 161 for 6 in 18.4 overs (D. Perera 32, G. Rupasinghe 17, C. Silva 44, H. Fernando 24).

Consolation win for Basnahira North

Meanwhile Basnahira North pulled off a thrilling two wicket victory over the Sri Lanka Schools XI in their SLT Inter Provincial Twenty20 cricket tournament match worked off at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium yesterday.

Basnahira North managed to overtake their opponents total of 125 for 8 with two wickets and four deliveries to spare.

All rounder Angelo Mathews guided them towards a consolation victory after they had lost few early wickets.

Earlier the Schools XI reached 125 for 8 thanks to a captains knock of 45 from Dinesh Chandimal. The elegant wicket keeper batsman hammered a sparkling 45 from just 28 deliveries inclusive of two sixes and five boundaries.

Schools XI: 125 for 8 in 20 overs (D. Chandimal 45, M. Jayasundera 17, A. Perera 17, C. de Silva 17, N. Kulasekera 2 for 29, M. Pushpakumara 4 for 20).

Basnahira North: 129 for 8 in 19.2 overs (A. Athulathmudali 19, A. Mathews 25, S. Jeevantha 17, V. Perera 3 for 21).

Wayamba moves to semi-finals

Wayamba Province produced their best performance of the tournament to beat the star studded Kandurata Province team by six wickets in a low scoring SLT Inter Provincial Twenty20 tournament match worked off at the SSC grounds in Maitland Place yesterday.

The Wayamba Province bowlers produced an inspired performance on the field to skittle out their opponents for just 78 runs in 17.2 overs.

They were rocked by the three prong pace attack of Farveez Maharoof, Isuru Udana and Jeewantha Kulatunga who shared eight wickets between them.

Kandurata Province would have been dismissed even for a much lower total if not for a useful contribution of 25 from all rounder Suresh Perera.

Wayamba Province then took only 15 overs to reach their target with Jeewantha Kulatunga stroking a 24 ball 30 inclusive of one six and four boundaries.

Kandurata: 78 in 17.2 overs (C. Kapugedera 17, S. Perera 25, F. Maharoof 3 for 21, I. Udana 3 for 6, J. Kulatunga 2 for 14).

Wayamba: 82 for 4 in 14.3 overs (J. Kulatunga 30, L. de Silva 18, C. Vidanapathirana 2 for 29).

The Inter Provincial Twenty20 tournament final points table

TEAM 		P 	W 	L 	PTS 
Basnahira South 5 	5 	0 	21 
Wayamba 	5 	4 	1 	18 
Kandurata 	5 	3 	2 	13 
Ruhuna 		5 	2 	3 	10 
Basnahira North 5 	1 	4 	04 
Schools XI 	5 	0 	5 	00 

Note: Tabulated under team, played, won, lost and total points.