Final round of Mercantile Tournament Division A matches

The qualifying round of the Mercantile Cricket Association Division `A' tournament comes to a close this weekend with John Keells Group still fighting for a place in the semi-finals after a 2 wicket win over Janashakthi Group in their rain affected match at P.Sara Stadium today.

With just five still to played Access Group, Hatton National Bank and Sampath Bank have already qualified for the semi-final but East West Information (18 points) and John Keells Group (17 points) are fighting for the final place.

East West Information with the one point advantage look to be favorites but they face Seylan Bank on Sunday, who represent a sterner test than Commercial Bank, who are playing John Keells Group. Commercial Bank are yet to win a match this year and with only five players turning up for practice on Tuesday, their commitment to the final game is questionable.

Despite being second in the table by virtue of a lower net run-rate, Hatton National Bank have been the most impressive side in the tournament this year. Lead by former Sri Lankan off-spinner Kumar Dharmasena they are yet to lose a match. Dharmasena, who is still banned from International cricket due a suspect action, has been leading from the front with some fine performances with the ball, picking up 12 wickets so far for an average of just 12.16 to top the bowling averages.

Pradeep Hewage tops the batting averages at the moment with a Bradmanesque average of 99. A little flattering perhaps considering that he has only had three innings. Marvan Attapattu (67.2) and Aravinda De Silva (35) are also in the top five of the averages.