Basnahira South ends first round unbeaten
By M Naushad Amit
Unbeaten Basnahira South, Wayamba, Kandurata and Ruhuna qualified to play in the semi-finals of the Inter-Provincial Twenty20 tournament which will be worked off on Saturday (April 4) at the SSC grounds after finishing all their round robin matches. Accordingly Basnahira South will meet Kandurata in the first semi-final at 10.00 am and Ruhuna will take on Wayamba at 2.00 pm in the second semi-final.
Basnahira South recorded their fifth straight win in the tournament with a stunning 4-wicket victory over Ruhuna in a high scoring encounter at the SSC yesterday. Basnahira South reached a challenging target of 159 with eight balls to spare largely to Chamara Silva’s entertaining knock of 44 not out off 31 balls which included four fours and a six. Silva was well supported by Dilruwan Perera who hit 32 in 29 balls (4 fours, 1 six) and Hasantha Fernando (24).
Team Mat Won Lost Pts Net RR
Basnahira South 5 5 0 21 +1.372
Wayamba 5 4 1 18 +0.739
Kandurata 5 3 2 13 +0.097
Ruhuna 5 2 3 10 +0.739
Basnahira North 5 1 4 4 -1.132
Schools Inv XI 5 0 5 0 -1.946
Wayamba opener Jeevantha Kulatunga hits out during his entertaining knock of 30 off 24 balls against Kandurata at the SSC yesterday
(Pic by Pushpakumara Matugama) |
Earlier Ruhuna made 158-9 after struggling from 87-5 with in-form batsman Indika de Saram (32), Sajeewa Weerakoon (28), Ashan Priyanjana (27) and Saman Jayantha (21) making useful contributions. Basnahira South opening bowlers Suranga Lakmal and Chinthaka Perera took two wickets each.
An economical spell of bowling (2/14) and a solid knock of 30 off 24 balls by Wayamba all-rounder Jeevantha Kulatunga helped his side beat Kandurata by 6-wickets in a low scoring game at the SSC. Kandurata who batted first felt the shocks when opener Tharanga Paranavithana and skipper Kumar Sangakkara were sent back by Farveez Maharoof in the very first over of the innings without scoring. Kandurata never recovered from that shock start and were bundled out for a mere 78 with Wayamba bowlers Isuru Udana (3/6) and Kulatunga continuing the early breakthrough provided by Maharoof. Top scorer for Kandurata was tail-ender Suresh Perera who made a valiant 25 not out but ran out of partners. Wayamba made short work of their run chase with Kulatunga providing a flying start scoring 20 of the first couple of overs. After the fall of Kulatunga for 30 (4 fours, 1 six), the Wayamba run rate slowed down, but they eventually reached their target with five overs to spare losing four wickets in the process.
Basnahira North recorded a hard fought consolation win by two wickets against the hapless Schools Invitational XI in their final round robin match played at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium yesterday. Schools Invitational XI who was smarting from four previous losses elected to bat first but could progress no further than 125 with Dinesh Chandimal playing a captain’s knock of 45 off 28 balls. His cracking innings included five fours and two sixes. After a sound start the schoolboys suffered a middle-order collapse caused by off-spinner Muthumudalige Pushpakumara (4 for 20) and slid to 81-5. They recovered to end with a total of 125 for 8. In their run chase Basnahira North lost wickets at regular intervals and had to work hard towards achieving their win. Angelo Mathews top scored with 25 runs off 29 balls but departed at 96-7 leaving tail-enders Saliya Saman (17 n.o.) and Nuwan Kulasekara (11 n.o.) to see them home with four balls to spare. Vimukthi Perera took 3 for 21.
Scores:
n At Maitland Place: Basnahira South beat Ruhuna by 4 wickets
Ruhuna 158-9 (20) (Indika de Saram 32, Sajeewa Weerakoon 28, Ashan Priyanjana 27, Saman Jayantha 21, Upul Tharanga 17, Suranga Lakmal 2/29, Chinthaka Perera 2/38).
Basnahira South 161-6 (18.4) (Chamara Silva 44 n.o., Dilruwan Perera 32, Hasantha Fernando 24, Gihan Rupasinghe 17).
n At Maitland Place: Wayamba beat Kandurata by 6 wickets
Kandurata 78 (17.2) (Suresh Perera 25 n.o., Chamara Kapugedara 17, Farveez Maharoof 3/21, Isuru Udana 3/6, Jeevantha Kulatunga 2/14).
Wayamba 82-4 (14.3) (Jeevantha Kulatunga 30, Lanka de Silva 18, Shalika Karunanayake 12 n.o., Chaminda Vidanapathirana 2/29).
n At P. Sara Stadium: Basnahira North beat Schools Invitational XI by 2 wickets
Schools Invitational XI 125-8 (20) (Dinesh Chandimal 45, Udara Jayasundara 17, Angelo Perera 17, Chathuranga de Silva 17, Muthumudalige Pushpakumara 4/20, Nuwan Kulasekara 2/29).
Basnahira North 129-8 (19.2) (Angelo Mathews 25, Amal Athulathmudali 19, Saliya Saman 17 n.o., Vimukthi Perera 3/21).
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