Vandersay bowls Tamil Union to win Major L/O title

Former Sri Lanka white-ball spinner Jeffrey Vandersay bowled Tamil Union to a 36-run win over Ragama CC in the final of the SLC Major Limited Over tournament played at the P. Sara Oval on Tuesday.

Vandersay, who has been in fine form with the ball in the tournament, took his third five-for with figures of 5/27 as Ragama CC, chasing a target of 182 were dismissed for 145 in the 33rd over.

Ragama CC began the run chase confidently, reaching 81/2 before leg-spinner Vandersay, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 24 wickets (avg. 10.41), spun his web, causing their collapse.

Tamil Union, playing on their home turf, were invited to bat first. They were pegged down to a score of 181/9 by some tidy bowling from the Ragama CC bowlers who didn’t allow any substantial partnerships to develop with Supun Kavinda (42 off 73 balls) and Santhush Gunathilaka (47 off 76 balls) being the principal scorers.

Ragama CC skipper Ishan Jayaratne, who picked up the wicket of his rival captain Sadeera Samarawickrama for 34, finished with figures of 2/27. There were also two-fors for Nipun Malinga, Kalhara Senaratne and Janaka Sampath.

Tamil Union picked up the Rs. 750,000 prize money as winner and Ragama CC took Rs. 500,000 as runner-up.  

Result:

Tamil Union 181-9 (50) (Supun Kavinda 42, Sadeera Samarawickrama 34, Santhush Gunathilake 47, Ishan Jayaratne 2/27, Nipun Malinga 2/36, Kalhara Senaratne 2/22, Janaka Sampath 2/29) beat Ragama CC 145 (32.4) (Nishan Madushka 23, Saminda Fernando 38, Ishan Jayaratne 26, Janaka Sampath 20, Pramod Madushan 2/45, Dilum Sudeera 2/28, Jeffrey Vandersay 5/27) by 36 runs.  – (ST)