Vaas stars in Basnahira Victory

Chris Dhambarage

Former Sri Lanka opening bowler Chaminda Vaas snapped up four wickets to give Basnahira Province a thrilling eight run victory over Uva Province in their SLC Inter Provincial limited overs cricket tournament match worked off at the SSC ground in Maitland Place yesterday.

The veteran left arm seamer delivered a sensational spell of bowling to return figures of four wickets for 13 runs from eight overs as Uva finished on 208 for 8 from their 50 overs after Basnahira had scored 214 runs having been put into bat.

This win also helped Basnahira to book a place in the semifinals and will take on the defending champions and the table leaders Wayamba on January 23 at the R. Premadasa Stadium under lights.

The second semifinal between Kandurata and Ruhuna will be played on the following day at the same venue under lights with the final scheduled for January 26. Vaas struck three early blows to push the opposition on the defensive as Uva slumped to 35 for 5 by the 15th over of the innings. Basnahira further tightened up things and consolidated their position by reducing their opponents to 61 for 7 in the 28th over. However a superb rearguard action from the tail-enders helped Uva to stage a good fight back before desperately falling short by eight runs from their victory target.

This was mainly due to some determined batting from the eighth wicket pair of Malinga Bandara and Shamindra Eranga who added a splendid 131 runs in 20 overs.

Bandara led the way with a fighting 64 from 76 deliveries inclusive of three sixes and four boundaries. But after his dismissal Uva lost their way with Shamindra Eranga remaining unbeaten on 69 from 80 balls with two sixes and seven boundaries.

Earlier Basnahira too found run making difficult as they were bowled out for 214 runs in 46.3 overs. After an initial setback Basnahira recovered to a certain extent following some useful contributions from their late order batting.

Sri Lanka all rounder Thisara Perera led the way with a run a ball 43 studded with two sixes and three boundaries.

Basnahira: 214 in 46.3 overs (T. Sampath 25, K. Perera 38, H. Fernando 22, T. Perera 43, D. Fernando 2 for 46, S. Eranga 2 for 44, D. Hettiarachchi 3 for 35, T. Paranavithana 2 for 10)

Uva: 208 for 8 in 50 overs (M. Bandara 64, S. Eranga 69 n. o, C. Vaas 4 for 13, T. Dilshan 2 for 31)