|
SLC
Inter-Provincial tournament review
Thirimanne,
Lakshitha and Mubarak shine
By
M Naushad Amit
Basnahira North continues to dominate the
Sri Lanka Cricket Inter-Provincial points table with
37.73 points after drawing their match against Basnahira
South at R Premadasa Stadium. However Basnahira South
gained major honours of the encounter which earned them
12.84 points while their opponents walked away with
4.475 points from the match. Basnahira South put into
bat first got off to a flying start as their openers
Yohan De Silva (98, 4x10 and 6x1) and Lahiru Thirimanne
(145, 4x16 and 6x1) put up a healthy partnership of
207 runs. Thirimanne then got together with Milinda
Siriwardene (70) to add 129 more runs for the third
wicket after Basnahira South’s second wicket fell
soon after the fall of Siriwardene’s wicket. They
were in a strong position at 346-3 but wickets fell
at regular intervals to end up with 405. On Basnahira
North’s behalf Dhammika Prasad bowled splendidly
to capture 4 for 56. Lasantha Manoj and skipper Thilina
Kandamby took 2 wickets each.
In their reply Basnahir North succumbed at 296 after
Ian Daniel (82) and in-from batsman Angelo Mathews (64)
put on a partnership worth 117 for the third wicket
when their side was struggling at 25-2. Muthmudalige
Pushpakumara (45) showed some resistance to the opponent’s
bowling attack but could not prevent Ruchira Perera
(4/61), Malinga Bandara (3/98) and Janaka Gunaratne
(2/43) from running through the Basnahira North side.
With a first innings lead of 109 runs, Basnahira South
went to bat for the second time. But the wicket had
slowed down by this time as Basnahira South struggled
on their way at the end of the third day at 124-6. The
only successful partnership for them came from Hasantha
Fernando (76) and Nuwan Zoysa (52) who put on 96 runs
for the seventh wicket which helped their side achieve
228 before lunch. Ranesh Perera (4/66) was successful
as a bowler and was backed by Dinesh Daminda and Muthumudalige
Pushpakumara who shared four wickets. With an impossible
target of 334 in 55 overs Basnahira North collected
199-7 at close of play after batting the rest of the
sessions in the final day. Skipper Kaushal Silva (64)
scored a half-century while Perera (3/31) and Bandara
(2/32) continued to follow their first innings success
in bowling.
Wayamba moved up to the second position with 28.05 points
after beating Ruhuna by 140 runs in a close contest
at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. After winning
the toss, Wayamba elected to bat and scored 275 runs
taking the whole first day and the morning session of
day two. After quite a long lapse opener Mahela Udawatte
managed to crack a timely 85 followed by 43 from skipper
Jehan Mubarak. Sajeewa Weerakoon (4/43) and Sujeewa
de Silva (3/86) had their opponents struggling for runs.
Ruhuna had an average start but fell 60 runs short of
their opponents’ first innings score. After a long
and economic spell by Rangana Herath who grabbed a five
wicket haul (5/68), Ruhuna were bowled out for 215 shortly
after tea on the second day. Chanaka Welagedara gave
his utmost assistance to Herath and ended with figures
of 4 for 51.
Wayamba were again shot out for a total of 236 soon
after lunch on the third day in their second innings.
The most triumphant batsman was Damitha Hunukumbura
who made a patient 117 off 199 balls which also included
16 fours and a six. But his century was overshadowed
by Tharanga Lakshitha who played a wrecker’s role
to capture 7 for 59. Ruhuna had a daunting task of achieving
297 runs for victory on a bowler-friendly wicket with
a whole day and two sessions in hand and ended the fourth
day on a high note at 118-4. By then Welagedara and
Shalika Karunanayake had already shared the four wickets
between them. Ruhuna were 179 runs behind while Wayamba
were 6 wickets away from a certain victory when the
final day’s play came to action. But Ruhuna had
their hopes dashed with rival skipper Mubarak mesmerising
them when he collected the remaining scalps in a spell
of 11 overs. The last five of Ruhuna wickets fell for
28 runs as they collapsed from 128-5 to 156. The Ruhuna
innings survived just 17.3 overs of the first session
as Mubarak ended with remarkable figures of 6 for 11.
Basnahira South with an impressive performance over
the table leaders moved up a position from last week
to No.3 while Kandurata slid down to the fourth place.
Ruhuna who suffered a defeat at the hands of Wayamba
is at the end of the points table.
Tomorrow, Basnahira North will take on Wayamba at Rangiri
Dambulla Stadium while Ruhuna will take on Kandurata
at R. Premadasa Stadium on the fifth week of the tournament.
Both four-day matches will commence at 10.00am from
tomorrow.
Team
Mat Won Lost Draw Pts
Basnahira North 3 2 0 1 37.73
Wayamba 2 1 0 1 28.155
Basnahira South 3 0 1 2 20.79
Kandurata 2 1 1 0 19.29
Ruhuna 2 0 2 0 7.355
|
