National cricketers steal limelight

Sri Lanka cricketers stole the limelight in the four Mercantile `A'division cricket matches played on Saturday.

Off-spinner Kumar Dharmasena performed a hat-trick on his way to taking six wickets for 13 runs off seven overs as he guided Hatton National Bank to a thumping 173-run win over John Keells at the Moors grounds.

Dharmasena's deadly spell saw John Keells shot out for a paltry 71 runs off 26 overs in reply to HNB's total of 244 for 7 in 50 overs. Following a rousing start of 59 off 49 balls of which Avishka Gunawardana made 41 off 33 balls (8 fours), skipper Russel Arnold maintained the tempo hitting an unbeaten half-century off 101 balls to give HNB the winning total.

Former Sri Lanka batsman Hahan Tillakaratne hit an undefeated 88 off 132 balls with a six and three fours to steer Singer to an exciting two-wicket win over East-West at the NCC grounds. Chasing a moderate East-West total of 198, Singer were greatly in debt to Tillakaratne who kept up his end to secure the win.

Aravinda de Silva put behind allegations of match-fixing behind him to come up with fine all-round performance which gave Access a comfortable six-wicket win over Janashakthi at the Colts grounds.

De Silva captured three wickets for 13 runs with hi wily off-breaks and then hit an undefeated 31 to enable Access pass the total, after national player Indika de Saram had set the pace with a scintillating knock of 60 off 47 balls inclusive of one six and nine fours.

Seylan Bank got the better of Sampath Bank by five wickets at Bloomfield grounds following a good all-round performance from Tilan Samaraweera, who is tipped to lead Sri Lanka `A' against Pakistan `A' in next month's series.

Samaraweera took two wickets for 46 runs and hit an unbeaten 55 off 59 balls with three sixes and one four as Seylan Bank passed Sampath's total of 204 for 9, in the 48th over. Seylan choosing to bat first were in dire straits at 106 for 7, and it was their eighth wicket pair of Shantha Kalavitigoda and Rangana Herath who got them past the 200-mark total by adding 92 run off 106 balls. Kalavitigoda finished unbeaten on 54 off 82 balls, and Herath made 46 off 67 balls.