Teams that did not make the knockout

An SLC Major Club Youth (U-23) group match in progress.

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Of the 22 teams that failed to make it to the knockout stage of the SLC Major Club Youth (Under-23) cricket tournament, the failure of Army SC to qualify for the semi-finals was the biggest disappointment apart from last year’s finalists Chilaw Marians CC also failing to make the cut.

The manner in which Army SC began the tournament with four convincing wins in as many matches, gave initial indications that they may sweep everything before them. Their success was largely based on the form displayed by their openers Haritha Fernando and Bishan Mendis. Mendis was in the limelight as he was one of the batsmen to score a century in the tournament. 

After 23 September, they had a break for a week and when play resumed, Army SC, for some reason only known to them, seemed to have lost their rhythm and suffered two decisive blows; losing to Badureliya CC and then to BRC; losses that put paid to their chances of qualifying for the knockout.

Meanwhile, Badureliya CC also began in style, winning their first three matches before losing to Sebastianites. That however, was to be their only loss, as they went onto win the remaining two games to finish on top of Group A. BRC and Sebastianites made a late spurt but their two losses to Badureliya CC’s one made the difference.

Chilaw Marians CC were the favourites to top Group B despite their stunning defeat in their second game at the hands of eventual Group winner Lankan CC.  The Marians could have still ended on top had they not lost to Sebastianites. Lankan CC edged them out by losing only one of their five matches to Air Force on the D/L rain rule while also benefitting from the two points they gained from a No Result against Negombo CC because of a waterlogged outfield.

Moors SC and NCC were the teams expected to give Colts a run for the Group C leadership, but the defending champions proved too good for both of them, by going through the first round unbeaten winning all five matches. The six-point gap that Colts created was too big for any of their opponents to catch up with. 

Moors SC lost only to Colts, but they managed only two bonus points out of the remaining four matches. 

NCC on the other hand, fared from bad to worse. At the end of three matches they were lying second to Colts with two wins and trailing only by two points. But losses to Moors SC and Colts, saw them finish third, despite having some of the most outstanding schoolboy cricketers in their line-up like skipper Hasitha Boyagoda, Kamil Mishara, Ashain Daniel, Matheesha Pathirana and Dineth Jayakody.

Similarly Tamil Union and CCC were the teams expected to compete with SSC for the Group D leadership, but similar to Colts, SSC proved too powerful; defeating both opponents to finish unbeaten in the group. CCC won their first three matches, but lost the crunch games to Tamil Union and SSC. Tamil Union kept pace with SSC, but their only loss to the group leaders proved decisive.

REVISED SEMI-FINAL SCHEDULE

Sri Lanka Cricket’s Tournament Committee has revised the semi-final schedule for tomorrow with SSC playing at CCC and, Colts taking on Lankan CC at NCC. The final will take place on Sunday 11 October at SSC.