Central Province ladies in semis

S.M. Jiffrey Abdeen, Kandy Sports Correspondent

Central Province ladies entered the semi-finals of the Sri Lanka Cricket's Women Inter provincial Twenty20 Cricket Tournament when they beat combined provincial team by 53 at NCC grounds, Colombo yesterday.

Central Province batting first scored 120 for 6 which was not an easy total to defend. Skipper and national player Sripali Weerakkody top scored with a hard hit 35 with 4 fours and Shalaka Nilukshi scored 34 being the main contributors.

The Central Province ladies defended this total of 120 successfully supported by fine bowling and backed up by good fielding dismissed their opponents for a low scores of 67 in 15.5 overs.

Chamari Polgampola bowling her gentle medium pacers often getting a little turned bemused the combined provincial team's top order batting to return the fine figures of 4 for 18. She also scored 22 runs. She was supported by the spin of Sugandi Kumari 2 for 9 and Shalaka Nilukshi 2 for 16. The other two batswomen were run out.

Central Province Ladies team 120 for 6 in 20 overs (Chamari Polgampola 22, Shalaka Nilukshi 34, Lasanthi Madhushani 14, Sripali Weerakkody 35, Nilukaa Karunaratne 2 for 10, Madavi Samudrika 2 for 24, Tharaki Rajapakse 2 for 22).

Combined Provincial team 67 all out in 15.5 overs (Maduri Samudrika 17, Harshika Dissanayake 12, Chamari Polgampola 4 for 18, Shalaka Nilukshi 2 for 18, Sugandika Kumari 2 for 9).