Navy SC wins Women’s Invitational T20 inter-club tournament

The champion Navy SC team with their trophies

Navy SC led by national captain Hansima Karunaratne, won the Women’s Invitational T20 inter-club tournament when they defeated Air Force SC A by eight runs in a closely fought out final played at Thurstan College grounds on Monday.

The final was originally scheduled to be played on 5 August at the MCA grounds, but due to bad weather it was postponed for a later date.

Navy SC winning the toss and batting first totalled 121-6 with all-round contributions from their batters with four of them getting over the 20-run mark.

Right-arm pacies Ruchi Samarasinghe and Harshani Wijesuriya were the pick of the Air Force SC bowlers with five wickets between them.

Air Force SC set about their task of overhauling Navy’s total and at one stage they were 103-4 in the 18th over, but the loss of two quick wickets at that total including that of a well-set Dilani Manodara to the second ball of the 19th over caught at backward square leg for a well compiled 40 off 34 balls (6 fours) spelt the death knell for Air Force. At that stage they required 19 of 10 balls and if anyone would have taken Air Force over the line, it was Dilani.

Dilani’s wicket dried up the runs for Air Force SC A and they were able to score only a further 10 runs off the remaining balls, losing another wicket in the process to end up nine short of victory.

Navy SC collected a cheque for Rs. 100,000 as champions and Air Force SC A received Rs. 75,000 as runner-up. Other individual awards were won by Sathya Sandeepani of Navy SC (Best Player of the Tournament), Emalka Mendis of Army SC (Best Batter of the Tournament), Hansima Karunaratne of Navy SC (Best Bowler of the Tournament), and Maduri Samuddika of Navy SC (Player of the final). The awards were presented by SLC National Cricket Operations Head Chinthaka Edirimanne and SLC Women’s Cricket Consultant - Development and Operations Manuja Kariyapperuma.

Scores:

Navy SC 121-6 (20) (Umesha Thimeshani 30, Hansima Karunaratne 25, Nilakshana Sadamani 21, Madhuri Samuddika 23*, Ruchi Samarasinghe 3/19, Harshani Wijesuriya 2/19)

Air Force SC A 113-7 (20) (Dilani Manodara 40, Chamari Polgampola 19, Madhuri Samuddika 2/21, Sathya Sandeepani 2/23)