Basnahira South in morale-boosting win

Chris DHAMBARAGE

Leg spinner Malinga Bandara took a match-bag of nine wickets to spearhead Basnahira South to a morale boosting five wicket outright victory over MAS Kandurata in their Bank of Ceylon Inter-Provincial four day cricket tournament match which concluded at Reid Avenue yesterday.

Bandara followed up his five wicket haul in the first innings with another fine spell of bowling as Kandurata were dismissed for 302 in their second innings. Middle order batsman Ishan Muthaliph hit a fighting half century with one six and seven boundaries as Kandurata extended their overall lead to 182 runs.

However Basnahira South reached their victory target quite convincingly despite a superb spell of bowling from Suraj Randiv who picked up five wickets after he had opened the bowling.

Chamara Silva (41) and Lahiru Thirimanne (41) both made useful contributions before wicket keeper batsman Prasanna Jayawardena added the finishing touches with an unbeaten 29.

Kandurata: 179 and 302 (N. Nawala 81, S. Randiv 26, I. Muthaliph 83, C. Vidanapathirana 31, A. Ganegama 30 n.o, D. Hettiarachchi 2 for 86, M. Bandara 4 for 75, J. Gunaratne 2 for 41).

Basnahira South: 300 and 182 for 5 (M. Warnapura 23, Y. de Silva 22, C. Silva 41, P. Jayawardena 29 n.o,S. Randiv 5 for 87).

Easy for Basnahira North

Basnahira North cruised to a rousing innings and 108 run outright victory over Ruhuna in their Bank of Ceylon Inter-Provincial four day cricket tournament match which concluded at the Galle International Stadium yesterday.

Ruhuna trailing by a massive 237 runs on the first innings never looked like saving the game and lost wickets at regular intervals against the pace spin combination of Sachithra Serasinghe and Sohan Boralessa.

The pair snapped up four wickets each as Ruhuna were skittled out for just 129 runs in their second innings.

Basnahira North: 538 for 9 decl.

Ruhuna: 301 and 129 (L. Fernando 37, S. Senanayake 20 n.o, S. Serasinghe 4 for 23, S. Boralessa 4 for 42).