Liyanapathiranage sets up Colombo's close win

Offspinner Maduka Liyanapathiranage finished with a match haul of eight wickets to help Colombo Cricket Club to a 10-run win against Colts Cricket Club in Colombo. Liyanapathiranage first picked up five wickets to dismiss Colts for 157 in their first innings, and then ran through the team's top order in the second to help Colombo successfully defend 234.

Colombo, put in to bat, managed 228 in the first innings, thanks to fifties from Gihan Rupasinghe (64) and Prasanna Jayawardene (61). Akila Dananjaya was the pick of Colts' bowlers, and finished with 4 for 7.

Colts, in reply, could only manage 157 as barring a 49 from Milinda Siriwardana, none of the other batsmen could produce more than 25. Colombo, however, fared poorly in their second innings as seven wickets from Sachith Pathirana restricted the team to 162, setting Colts a target of 234.

Pathirana then contributed with the bat, scoring 70, but was ultimately unable to take the team home as Dinuka Hettiarachchi and Hasantha Fernando chipped in with three wickets each to bowl the team out for 224.

Lahiru Lakmal's maiden first-class hundred gave Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club first-innings lead in a drawn match with Badureliya Sports Club in Maggona. Badureliya batted first and despite being 129 for 5, put on 345 on the back of a 109-run partnership between Andy Solomons (131) and Imesh Udayanga (59). Sri Lanka Air Force started strong with a fifty from opener Thuppahi Nadeera (77) and Lakma's knock. A useful 47 at No. 8 from Sahan Jayawardene helped them score 430, with a lead of 85. Left-arm spinner Ranil Dhammika took four wickets for 109 runs.

Badureliya batted with better intent in the second essay as England batsman Greg Smith scored a hundred (119) and they declared at 269 for 7, setting Sri Lanka Air Force a target of 185. Sri Lanka Air Force made 39 runs in 13 overs for the loss of three wickets when the match ended in a draw, and took 11.7 points, while Badureliya earned 4.37 but both are still placed at the bottom of the table.

Another draw ensued, between Moors Sports Club and Sri Lanka Army Sports Club in Panagoda even though Moors took home 12.335 points on first-innings lead and moved to the top of the table.

Batting first, Moors saw several useful scores from the lower order, particularly from Suresh Niroshan (81) and Irosh Samarasooriya (41), which took them to 295. Their bowlers were led by a six-wicket haul from left-arm seamer Vimukthi Perera who notched his best first-class figures of 6 for 68. This meant that Sri Lanka Army were restricted to 220 after a fifty from Manjula de Zoysa (69). Moors then came back and scored another 272 with two fifties - 80 from Isham Ghouse and 72 from Harsha Cooray. Sri Lanka Army were set a target of 348 and the match ended when they were 214 for 5 on the third day.

Group A

An all-round display from Sinhalese Sports Club helped them crush Panadura Sports Club by 115 runs in Colombo. Sinhalese, batting first, rallied to 272 on the back of fifties from the captain Tharanga Paranavitana and Kaushal Lokuarachchi. Sinhalese then enforced their advantage by bowling Panadura out for 191 to wrest an 81-run lead. Sammika Ruwan top-scored with 60, but only four batsmen reached double digits as Charith Jayampathi snared three wickets to help dismiss the team in 44.3 overs.

Left-arm spinner Gayan Sirisoma picked up six wickets to rattle Sinhalese in their second innings, but the team still managed to reach 215, thanks to another fifty from Lokuarachchi, which set Panadura a formidable 297 for victory.

Panadura's chase was hampered by wickets at regular intervals. Most of their top and middle order made starts, but none of the batsmen could build on and score a fifty, as Kasun Madushanka finished with 5 for 52 and Ranindu Kumarasinghe notched four scalps to skittle Panadura for 181 in 32.4 overs.

Ragama Cricket Club and Chilaw Marians Club played out a draw in Colombo. Ragama, batting first, put up 452 on the back of centuries from Lahiru Thirimanne (135) and Chanaka Wijesinghe (117*). The team made that advantage count by dismissing Chilaw for 185 in the first innings, as Nilanka Premaratne, Alankara Asanka Silva and Malinga Bandara each snared three wickets.

With a 267-run lead in hand, Ragama enforced the follow-on in hope of securing an innings win. However Shashrika Pussegolla scored 103 not out to steer the team to safety.

Shantha Kalavitigoda and Gayan Maneeshan both scored hundreds to help Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club thrash Bloomfield by an innings and 30 runs in Colombo.

SLPACC, batting first, were dominant right from the off as Kalavitigoda and Yohan de Silva built a second-wicket stand worth 151 runs. Kalavitigoda fell for 132, but Maneeshan put up big stands with Gayashan Weerasekera and Sachithra Serasinghe to lift the team to 593 for 7 before they decided to declare. Maneeshan hit nine fours and three sixes during his quick 102, while Suraj Ranjdiv was the pick of Bloomfield's bowlers, finishing with five wickets.

Bloomfield, in reply, could only manage 273 in their first essay, as Chanaka Komasaru took a five-for to dismiss the team in 71.1 overs, with Adeesha Nanayakkara's 91 being the only score of note. Following on, Bloomfield needed at least 320 to make SLPACC bat again, but wickets at regular intervals stunted their progress. Randiv scored an unbeaten 106, but received very little by way of support from the other end as Komasuru picked up a further six wickets to take his match tally to 11 and bowl Bloomfield out for 290.