NCC bounce back from defeat

Chaturanga Kumara’s all-round contribution helped Police SC beat Negombo CC

Ahan Wickramasinghe cracks a boundary for NCC in their win over Chilaw Marians CC

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

NCC bounced back following their shock defeat at the hands of Nugegoda SWC two days ago, to beat beating Chilaw Marians CC by 46 runs in a SLC Major T20 inter-club game reduced to 16 overs yesterday. 

NCC managed just 111-9 but defended it successfully by restricting Chilaw Marians CC to 65-7 largely through the off-breaks of Sahan Arachchige who captured three wickets for 11 runs.

Police SC led by former Sri Lanka cricketer 42-year-old Chamara Silva got the better of Negombo CC by five wickets. Silva scored 36* to see Police SC home in an unbroken 68-run partnership with Chaturanga Kumara who followed his two wickets for 19 runs with an undefeated 30 chasing a target of 129.

A late rally by Pakistan Under19 cricketer Ahmed Khan (25* off 9 balls, 2 sixes, 2 fours) failed to bring Sebastianites victory over Colts falling short by 17 runs. Sebastianites chasing a target of 170 lost their first three wickets for nine runs in the first three overs but recovered to finish on 152-6 courtesy of a run-a-ball 42 from opener Nimantha Perera, and contributions of 30 apiece from captain Shashrika Pussegolla and Sachitha Jayathilake. 

Colts total was made up by a 78-run stand between Vishad Randika (59 off 46 balls) and Sangeeth Cooray (42 off 30 balls) and a late assault by Muditha Lakshan (34* off 21 balls).

Ragama CC powered by a 27-ball fifty from all-rounder Ishan Jayaratne recovered from being five down for 78 to post a decent score of 148-7, but rain spoilt their chances of victory when Panadura SC were asked to chase a revised target of 126 off 16 overs under the D/L method which they achieved off 13.4 overs to win by four wickets. 

Former Sri Lanka spinner Tharindu Kaushal was Panadura SC’s match winner following his two wickets with a career best 32* off 12 balls (2 sixes, 2 fours) and sharing a match-winning stand of 62 off 4.2 overs with Rohan Wijenayake (26*).

Left-arm spinner Duvindu Tillakaratne took three middle order Nugegoda SWC wickets for 17 runs to bring BRC a win by 26 runs. Nugegoda SWC got off to a swift start in pursuit of 173 with their openers Lisula Lakshan (20) and Abisheak Liyanarachchi (67 off 61 balls) posting 64 off 10 overs, but their innings faltered in the middle which saw them lose momentum and eventually end up scoring 146-5. 

Former Sri Lanka left-arm swing bowler Chaminda Bandara took a career best 4 for 18 for Nugegoda SWC including the wicket of BRC skipper Bhanuka Rajapaksa for 17. Dilan Jayalath top scored for BRC with 78 off 63 balls.     

Tamil Union made short work of Kandy Customs CC coasting to a ten-wicket win. Kandy Customs CC were pegged down to a total of 94-6 and in reply Tamil Union openers Navod Paranavithana (50* off 48 balls) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (37* off 35 balls) knocked the required runs off in 13.4 overs to earn their second straight win. 

Results

At Colts: Police SC beat Negombo CC by five wickets

• Negombo CC 128-8 (18) (Amoda Widanapathirana 41, Chaturanga Kumara 2/19)
• Police SC 132-5 (17.2) (Chaturanga Jaythilake 33, Chamara Silva 36*, Chaturanga Kumara 30*, Dilshan Munaweera 3/29)

At Colts: Panadura SC beat Ragama CC by four wickets (D/L method) 

• Ragama CC 148-7 (20) (Thevindu Dickwella 23, Janith Liyanage 35, Ishan Jayaratne 50*, Tharindu Kaushal 2/20)
• Panadura SC 126-6 (13.4) (Kosala Ravindu 23, Tharindu Kaushal 32*, Roshan Wijenayake 26*, Shashika Dulshan 2/30)

At Moratuwa: NCC beat Chilaw Marians CC by 46 runs

• NCC 111-9 (16) (Upul Tharanga 24, Ahan Wickramasinghe 31, Kaveen Bandara 21, Charith Jayampathi 2/18, Pulina Tharanga 3/19)
• Chilaw Marians 65-7 (16) (Pulina Tharanga 25*, Johanne de Zilva 2/7, Sahan Arachchige 3/11)

At Moratuwa: Tamil Union beat Kandy Customs CC by 10 wickets 

• Kandy Customs CC 94-6 (20) (Vishva Wijeratne 39, Isuru Udana 2/18)
• Tamil Union 95-0 (13.4) (Navod Paranavithana 50*, Sadeera Samarawickrama 37*)

At Maggona: Colts beat Sebastianites by 17 runs

• Colts 169-5 (20) (Vishad Randika 59, Sangeeth Cooray 42, Muditha Lakshan 34*, Sachitha Jayathilake 2/40, Shashrika Pussegolla 2/26)
• Sebastianites 152-6 (20) (Nimantha Perera 42, Shashrika Pussegolla 30, Sachitha Jayathilake 30, Ahmed Khan 25*, Sangeeth Cooray 2/1, Harsha Wickramasinghe 2/30, 

At Maggona: BRC beat Nugegoda SWC by 26 runs 

• BRC 172-6 (20) (Dilan Jayalath 78, Dushan Hemantha 23, Chaminda Bandara 4/18)
• Nugegoda SWC 146-5 (20) (Lisula Lakshan 20, Abishek Liyanarachchi 67, Nayana Fernando 27*, Duvindu Tillakaratne 3/17)