Miscellaneous

SSC overwhelm Police in rain wrecked fourth week

Singhalese Sports Club may be a giant in first class cricket but they have not had a good season so far in the U23 Tournament

Singhalese Sports Club may be a giant in first class cricket but they have not had a good season so far in the U23 Tournament. However, in this, the forth week of the tournament, they were back to their normal winning ways. Against a relatively weak Police SC side they secured an emphatic innings and 86 run victory. The victory keeps alive their hopes of qualifying to the quarter finals in two weeks time. It was the only outright victory in another week that was marred by bad weather.
Ranil Dammika, bowling his left arm orthodox, finished with a match bag of eight for 32. He was well supported by Suresh Perera, who continued his strong come-back after injury, with a fine spell (3/17) in the first innings to bowl out the Police SC for 41 in 26 overs, the lowest total of the tournament so far. Not one of the Police batsman were able to reach double figures.
In the other matches, Michael Vandort (104*) compiled a fine unbeaten century for Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) against Singha SC. CCC piled up 215 for three in 39. 2 overs. Romesh Fernando (54) also impressed with the bat for CCC while Amila Ratnayake(5/20) shined in the bowling department to ensure a first innings victory.
Nerajan Kumara, who plays Colts SC, produced the best bowling figures of the week with his 7 for 54 against the Air Force SC in the first innings of the match. However his efforts went un-rewarded as frequent rain interruptions ensured that no result was possible.
Last week centurion, Tamil Union's Malintha Gajanayake, narrowly missed out on another this week. He was eventually caught and bowled by Sanjeewa Weerakoon for 88. Nimesh Perera also missed out on a century for Sebastanites SC, when he was dismissed for 89.
Panadura SC skipper, Chamara Silva(69), who has not shown the degree of consistency of late that his evident class demands, scored an impressive 69, but no decision was possible in their match against Kurunegala.
The other inform batsmen this week were Shantha Kalawitagoda who scored 65 for SSC, Indika Konara who scored 59 for Tamil Union, and both Dilip Fernando and Roy de Silva who scored 58 runs each for Air Force SC.
The match between Matara Sports club and Navy sports club was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain and gloomy conditions at Uyanwatte stadium.