Airwomen division I cricket champions
Anuradha ABEYSEKSRA
The Sri Lanka Air Force women’s cricket team clinched the Division I
Premier League Women’s Cricket Championship when they registered a
comfortable seven wicket victory over Parlinks Sports Club in the final
played at the Colts ground yesterday. Airwomen won all five group
matches and were unbeaten throughout the tournament.
The victorious Air Force women’s cricket team. Picture by
Mahinda Vithanachchi |
Parlinks SC batted first and scored 129/8 in 50 overs. Air Force
spinner Chamini Seneviratne did the greatest damage to the Parlinks
batting order by removing four wickets out of 21 runs. She was supported
by her fellow spin bowler Rangika Fernando who claimed 2/23.
The only two players who fared well with the bat for the losers were
Nirosha Wickremasinghe and Shalika Nilukshani who added valuable 44 runs
and 38 runs respectively to their total.
In contrast the strong Airwomen found no difficulty to reach the
target in 28.5 overs by sacrificing three wickets. Chamari Athapattu
scored the highest knock of 37 runs for the victorious team while
Chamari Polgampola and Dilani Manadara contributed 35 n/o each. Shalika
Nilukshani who did a solitary fight with the bowl was the only wicket
taker for the Parlinks SC. She claimed all three wickets giving away 13
runs. Air Force team played with eight national squad players and were
very strong in both batting and bowling. They beat Colts team by 10
wickets in the semi final to qualify for the finals.
Parlinks SC: 129/8 (Nirosha Wickremasinghe 44, Shalika
Nilukshani 38, Chamini Seneviratne
4/21, Rangika Fernando 2/23)
Air Force SC: 130/3 in 28.5 overs (Chamari Athapattu 37,
Chamari Polgampola 35 n/o, Dilani Manadara 35 n/o, Shalika Nilukshani
3/13) |