SLC Major Clubs T20 tournament Moors SC, NCC, BRC, Bloomfield into semi-finals on rain-curtailed day

Tuesday, 25 June 2024 02:13 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Moors SC skipper Ramesh Mendis took two wickets and scored 32* to guide his team to the semi-finals

Chamika Karunaratne’s all-round effort (2/28 and 48*) saw NCC beat Colts

On a rain-curtailed day, Moors SC, NCC, BRC and Bloomfield came through to the semi-finals of the SLC Major Clubs T20 tournament yesterday.

Moors SC accounted for the high riding Ace Capital CC by six wickets winning with seven balls to spare at the P Sara Oval. Ace Capital CC invited to bat first could muster only 111-9 with Pawantha Weerasinghe (48 off 44 balls, 6 fours) and Ravindu Ratnayake (30* off 19 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) being the principle scorers. Spinners Dinuka Dilshan (3/6) and Ramesh Mendis (2/14) were outstanding for Moors SC. Moors SC in their turn slipped to 61-4 before a 54-run unbroken partnership by Pasindu Sooriyabandara (32*) and skipper Ramesh Mendis (32*) saw them home.

At the SSC grounds, NCC beat Colts by 11 runs under the DLS method. An opening stand of 73 by Yasodha Lanka (77 off 45 balls, 6 fours, 6 sixes) and Dinesh Chandimal (38 off 19 balls, 5 fours, 2 sixes) saw Colts reach a respectable 170-9. Sri Lanka bowlers Matheesha Pathirana, Dushmantha Chameera, Chamika Karunaratne and Lasith Embuldeniya took two wickets apiece for NCC. NCC’s target was revised to 130 from 15.3 overs. They ended up scoring 140-6 with Karunaratne making a top score of 48* off 31 balls (2 fours, 4 sixes) and leg-spinner Sanoj Darshika 3/17 for Colts.

BRC pulled off a thrilling two-run win over Tamil Union in an 8-over shoot out at the SSC grounds. Taking first lease BRC made 66-5 and in reply Tamil Union fell agonisingly short ending on 64-8 with left-arm seamer Chaminda Bandara and off-spinner Murvin Abinash tying down the Tamil Union batsmen with four wickets between them.

CCC were unlucky with the toss against Bloomfield when their match at the P Sara Oval was abandoned without a ball bowled. Bloomfield sneaked through by calling correctly on the toss of a coin.

The semi-final line-up for tomorrow (26 June) at the P Sara Oval is: NCC v BRC at 9.45 a.m. and Bloomfield v Moors SC at 2 p.m.

The winners will meet in the final on 28 June at the same venue.