Sinhalese Sports Club romp to victory

The Sinhalese Sports Club finally produced the kind of performance that they should by right at Premadasa International Stadium. They brushed aside Colts CC in emphatic style to win the final of Premier Division Limited Overs tournament by eight wickets.

All too often in the recent past the SSC have floundered despite having an embarrassment of riches in their squad. In today's game they fielded eight test players. However, this evening, they were propelled to victory by an unbeaten and intimidating third wicket partnership of 214 between Mahela Jayawardene (83*) and Marvan Attapattu (113*).

The pair were brought to the wicket after the fall of two wickets in the first over. Avishka Gunwardene (0) has been clean bowled a disconcerting number of times recently and he was again tonight by Chaminda Vaas on the very first delivery of the innings. His defense counsel will undoubtedly plead `unplayable delivery my lord' but the skeptics are now know saying `I told you so' openly.

Prassana Jayawardene, who was trapped LBW three balls later, swiftly followed him back to the dressing room. The writing was on the wall for the SSC. Colts had recovered from 117 for 7 to post a creditable 214 and that was now looking well above par.

However, Marvan Attapattu and the SSC captain, Mahela Jayawardene, were not going to waste their last sojourn before departure to the harsher Dark Continent. Indeed, Attapattu batted as if it were his last chance to express himself before assuming his customary anchor role in international duty.

He batted sublimely. His hundred came from just 95 balls and 13 fours were sweetly timed to the boundary. Jayawardene was almost puritanical in comparison as he scored 83 from 112 deliveries.

The Colts bowlers gave it their all. They always do. The team's success in the recent past has been built upon teamwork, commitment and unity. Alas, they bowled waywardly. The discipline of the semi final was supplanted by some frivolous offerings that were all too eagerly accepted by the SSC pair.

Earlier in the day Romesh Kaluwitharana had threatened to take the game away from SSC in the opening overs. He begun in imperious fashion and soon confirmed that this was - though still somewhat two paced - a far superior pitch to the semi final strip. The new ball came on to the bat and Colts raced to 50 runs in 7.5 overs.

Romesh Kaluwithrana clubbed 49 from just 44 balls before he was bowled by the left arm spin of Ranil Dhammika. Indeed, the early introduction of spin stemmed the run scoring, and, ultimately, changed the course of the match.

Colts stuttered before collapsing into a hopeless heap. They lost five wickets for just 17 runs, with two run outs and only one wicket taking delivery. Were it not for a polished 81 from 115 balls by Dulip Samaraweera and a promising unbeaten 31 by the raw Kaushalya Weereratne, Colts would have been home before the sun down prayers.

The pair looked to have saved Colts CC with a final score of 214 that surpassed both semi final totals. However, this pitch was better and the batting was supreme. The total proved to be well short of what was needed and SSC won with 14.3 overs to spare.