Rain disrupts second round of Mercantile

The Mercantile Division A tournament was severely disrupted by wet weather on Sunday. Nevertheless, all four games reached a conclusion thanks to the rather basic "Parabola Formula" for recalculating targets, which pre-dated the Duckworth Lewis system and is being used in this years tournament.

After the first two rounds of the tournament it has become clear that five sides will dominate this years tournament - Seylan Bank, Access Bank, Hatton National Bank, Sampath Bank, and John Keells - whilst the remaining three teams - Singer Sri Lanka, East-West Information, and Janashakthi Insurance - will be fighting to avoid relegation.

HNB powered to their second win of the weekend with an emphatic ten-wicket victory against East-West Information. East West were bowled out for just 128 in the 41st over with Sajeewa Weerakoon and Kumar Dharmasena taking four wickets apiece. Tillakaratne Dilshan then finished the match in style, as he smashed an unbeaten 71 from 59 deliveries.

Access International also recorded their second win. They scored 257 off 43.5 overs, with Aravinda de Silva scoring an unbeaten 99 off 101 balls and Ruwan Kalpage scoring 73 from 78. Singer Sri Lanka were then required to score 180 runs from 25 overs, but managed just 89 in the allotted time.

Seylan Bank batted first against Janashakthi and compiled an imposing 247 off 43 overs. Lanka de Silva scored 52, Mahela Jayawardene, the Seylan captain, scored 54, and Chaminda Vaas swung his way to 31 off just 12 deliveries. Janashakthi were required to score 175 from 25 overs, a target which they were never likely to reach and duly didn't.

In the final game of the day Sampath Bank suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of John Keells. Sampath Bank batted first and had scored 194 for five when the rain intervened, leaving John Keells needing 143 from 25 overs. They scored the runs for the loss of just three wickets thanks to a quick fire 49 off 38 balls from Jehan Mubarak.