Cinnamon Grand wins debut Cinnamon’s City Premier League Cricket Encounter

The Cinnamon city hotels – Cinnamon Grand, Cinnamon Lakeside and Cinnamon Red – held their debut Premier League Cricket Encounter on Sunday, 28 August at the Thurstan Grounds.

Organised by the Management of Cinnamon’s city hotels to heighten the team spirit between associates the three properties through the much loved game of cricket, the fun-filled day saw over 500 associates in the hotels bonding in good cheer over a series of matches, great food, drinks and papare music. 

Speaking at the event, Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts Sector Head-City Hotels Rohan Karr congratulated all teams for a “fantastic game of cricket” and highlighted that the main intention was to build friendship between the three hotels.

After a series of nail biting matches, premier five-star city hotel Cinnamon Grand took home the championship trophy. Cinnamon Lakeside were the runners up of the tournament.  

Grand’s Skipper Janudika Sriyapala won the coveted Man of the Tournament title, while Rasika Weerarathne won Best Fielder, Malan Alwis Best Bowler and Ashan Peries the Best Batsman of the tournament.

Cricket teams of all hotels practiced tirelessly amidst busy work schedules to win the first cup of what is expected to be an annual tournament. The first match, starting at 9:30 a.m. was between Cinnamon Lakeside and Cinnamon Red with Cinnamon Lakeside winning by one run, scoring 69 runs for eight wickets. Cinnamon Grand won the next match with Cinnamon Lakeside for 44 runs. The last match before the finale was between Cinnamon Grand and Cinnamon Red, which Grand won by four runs.

The final was a close match, with Cinnamon Lakeside chasing 112 runs. Great batting and bowling spells were witnessed at this match, where the pressure was high with three runs required from the last ball and Grand team stopping the ball that almost reached the boundary line.

The Cinnamon Grand team was made up of Janudika Sriyapala (Capt.), Ramesh Peiris, Denuka Costa, Ashan Peiris, Dimutha Fernando, Rasika Weerarathne, Kelum Dissanayake, Sasindu Perera, Lakindu Wasala, Fabian Sylvester, Hemantha Ranathunga, Malshan Alwis, Priyantha Chanaka, D. Rashmika and Rajeeve Michael.

Cinnamon Lakeside team comprised of Gamini Fernando (Capt.), M. Chathuranga, J. Konara, Ishan Perera, P. Koralage, A.G. Jaakey, C. Subasinghe, D. Gunathilake, W.R.C. De Mel, K. Prabasawara, S. N. Athuraliya, A. Indrachapa, D. Madurusinghe and M. I. Kanishka.

Cinnamon Red team included Evan Ranasinghe (Capt.), Shahin Ahamed, Terrence Fernando, Pasan Wijewardena, Darren Ebert, Riyaz Allang, Tariq Mohamed, Prabothan Joseph, Danushka Gajanayake, Milinda Siriwardena, Prasad Perera, Shehan Madushanka, Sandun Perera, Jawfer Noordeen and Manoj Prapaker