Sri Lanka: Premier Championship Review (4 March 1999)

4 March 1999

Sri Lanka: Premier Championship Review

Sa'adi Thawfeeq

NCC who have started believing in themselves midway from the season, shot to the top of the Premier championship table by virtue of taking full points from Antonian SC. They displaced Sebastianites, whose reign at the helm was a brief one week, like their Southern counterparts Panadura SC, a fortnight back.

NCC are the fourth club this season to have the honour of heading the table after Moors SC, Panadura SC and Sebastianites.

NCC did not begin the season too well being held to a no-decision by Bloomfield in a rain-hit game, losing outright to Moors SC and on the first innings to CCC, before the wheel of fortune started turning their way with a first innings win over Tamil Union in the fourth weekend.

From 13th position, they have now made their way to the top of the table egged on by coach Rumesh Ratnayake and by pure dint of hard work and commitment.

NCC are one of the few clubs who don't pay their cricketers for playing, but have initiated a scheme to reward them with handsome emoluments for winning, much of it coming from the Rs. 600,000 paid to each club by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka this season.

Last weekend's victory was fashioned out by Sri Lanka 'A' pool player Naveed Nawaz, Asela Pathirana and left-arm fast-medium bowler Sajeeva de Silva. Left-hander Nawaz hit twin fifties and took two wickets to condemn Antonians to a 139-run defeat. Playing the supporting roles were Pathirana with 87 and de Silva, whose four wickets in the first innings was a continuation of him rediscovering his lost bowling form and a recall to the national team for the Asian Test championship match against Pakistan beginning at Lahore today. For Antonians, former captain Priyantha Perera's knock of 99 was the only redeeming feature.

Another club who have progressed on almost similar lines is Tamil Union. Having being held to a no-decision by CCC in their opening match, Tamil Union suffered three successive defeats at the hands of SSC, Colts, and NCC to be placed third from the bottom of the table. However the tide turned in their fifth game of the season where they beat BRC by five wickets and since then they have turned out to be bunch of giant killers defeating Moors, Bloomfield and Panadura in successive weekends to move into fifth place.

Having played the more important and tough matches at the start of the season, Tamil Union have a very good chance of having a tilt at the title being left with clubs at the bottom rungs of the standings (with the exception of Sebastianites) - Matara SC, Kurunegala YCC, Galle CC, Antonian SC and, Police SC, to complete their quota of 15 matches.

Tamil Union were deprived of an outright win last weekend by Singha SC captain Saman Jayantha, whose negative tactics proved decisive. Tamil Union required 66 for an outright win, but fell short by seven runs with three wickets in hand. They had to contend with a slow over rate - 15 overs in 90 minutes and a packed leg side of nine fielders. But what was more galling than any of these tactics was the Singha team taking the decision to go off the field when light rain began to fall with three mandatory overs remaining, and the umpires doing nothing about it.

Jayantha's 63 made most of Singha's first innings of 185, but their second knock of 126, left Tamil Union only with a moderate target to chase. The batting collapsed to the leg-spin of Sri Lanka player Upul Chandana who finished with a match bag of eight wickets. He received good support in the second innings from fast bowler Mario Villarayen, who picked up four wickets. Tamil Union's total of 245 for 8 declared was boosted by Sagara Kumara's maiden first class century. In Tamil Union's second innings, Suraj Sanjeeva took five wickets.

CCC were the only other club to record an outright win on a weekend interrupted by bad weather. They made short work of wooden spoonists Matara to record their fifth win. CCC's total of 315 for 5 declared proved too much for Matara who were bowled out for totals of 156 and 85 by the medium-pace of Indika Gallage (match bag of 8/61), Hemantha Boteju and T. Sanjaya. P. Rangana made a half-century for Matara in the first innings, but otherwise their batting looked totally inadequate to play the fast bowlers. CCC skipper Bradman Ediriweera led the team from the front with a fine century that set the tone for former Sri Lanka wicket-keeper Lanka de Silva (95) and Boteju (72 not out) to follow.

Defending champs SSC made Sebastianites' stay at the top of the table was a momentary one when they beat them on their home turf at Moratuwa. It was the second occasion this season Sebastianites have lost at home. They were earlier beaten by Kurunegala YCC. Sebastianites' total of 184 (Chamara Liyanage 64) proved isufficient to stop SSC's strong batting line up, despite the absence of five national players. Although leg-spinner Nimesh Perera took five wickets, SSC replied with 255, banking largely on Sanjeeva Ranatunga's knock of 76. In the remaining time, Sebastianites gained batting points through half-centuries from Ranga Yasalal and Manoj Mendis. Sri Lanka off-spinner Tilan Samaraweera distinguished himself with a match bag of eight wickets (5/46 in the first innings).

Sri Lanka discard Roshan Mahanama's century went a long way towards bringing Bloomfield a first innings points win over Galle CC and keep them in hot pursuit of the table leaders. The visitors were bundled out for 152 by Bloomfield's pace cum spin combination of Hemantha Alles, Kumara Dharmasena and Priyankara Wickremasinghe. Bloomfield replied with 237 for 9 declared with Mahanama scoring 107 of them of 191 balls, an innings which would have given him immense satisfaction after a poor run of low scores at international level.

Moors SC remained in the hunt by taking first innings points from Kurunegala YCC in Kurunegala, which placed them a close second behind NCC in the points table. Their total of 281 built around half-centuries from Asela Jayasinghe and Nilan de Silva to set Kurunegala a challenging total. The home team failed miserably falling to the leg-breaks of Primal Salgado (4/39) for 138. With the intention of gaining full points, Moors declared at 119 for 7, but Kurunegala set a target of 263, held on to score 215 for 7. Former Sri Lanka off-spinner Ranjith Madurasinghe took five wickets in the Moors second innings.

Panadura continued their downward slide, when they were outplayed by Colts. Only the weather stood between them from suffering an outright defeat. Colts' total of 347 based largely on Chaminda Mendis' century and Indika de Saram's knock of 79, proved to a handful for Panadura who were shot out for 123 and forced to follow-on lost half the side for 152. Fast-medium bowler Ishara Amarasinghe continued to impress with another five-wicket haul in the first innings. Sajith Fernando's off-breaks accounted for four of the five Panadura wickets in the second.

BRC came out on top in their clash with Police SC at Police Park. Fifties apiece from Shaun Mackay, Deepal Madurapperuma and Indika Batuwitarachchi enabled BRC make 275 for 9 declared. Police were dismissed for 152 by Duminda Perera (4/45),despite a half-century from C. Liyanage. In their second innings, BRC collapsed for 144, but time was not on Police's side to begin their reply. Police captain Nihal Soysa finished with a match bag of eight wickets.

A press release from the committee's chairman states: "After viewing the video footage of Pulasthi Gunaratne we are of the opinion this bowler has now rectified his action. Therefore, the technical committee is of the opinion that the player should be cleared. The two senior umpires have stated that the short pitched deliveries of Gunaratne are suspect. However, if the bowler resorts to his previous suspect action deliberately, the umpires would not hesitate to call him without any further warning, according to the present playing conditions which applies to bowling action".

The following are the Premier Championship standings at the completion of the ninth weekend of matches on February 28:

Points 12 8 .0005 0.1

NCC 9 3 3 1 1 1 18.060 14.5 92.560 Moors SC 9 3 3 0 3 0 16.795 13.8 90.595 Sebastianites 9 2 4 0 2 1 16.800 11.5 84.300 Bloomfield 9 2 4 1 1 1 14.340 13.9 84.240 SSC 9 0 6 1 2 0 16.865 14.4 79.265 Tamil Union 9 3 2 0 3 1 14.515 13.1 79.615 Panadura SC 9 2 3 1 2 1 18.405 12.2 78.605 CCC 9 1 4 1 2 1 14.030 15.1 73.130 Colts 9 2 2 0 4 1 13.780 14.1 67.880 Singha SC 9 0 5 0 3 1 14.595 10.2 64.795 Kurunegala YCC 9 1 3 2 2 1 12.590 11.2 59.790 Galle CC 9 1 2 1 4 1 13.420 11.6 53.020 BRC 9 1 1 5 2 0 14.280 12.8 47.080 Antonian SC 9 1 0 3 4 1 15.075 10.8 37.875 Police SC 8 0 1 2 4 1 10.990 8.1 27.090 Matara SC 8 0 0 3 4 1 9.485 9.2 18.685

(Subject to confirmation)

Note: The match between Police SC and Matara SC scheduled from Jan. 22-24 was not played.

HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL INNINGS: 217 (n.o.) - Mahela Jayawardene, SSC v Colts at Maitland Place on Feb. 13.

FASTEST CENTURY: 66 balls - Saman Jayantha, Singha SC v Panadura SC at Panadura on Jan. 31.

BEST INNINGS ANALYSIS: 8/47 - Priyankara Wickremasinghe, Bloomfield v Moors SC at Reid Avenue on Jan. 30.

BEST MATCH ANALYSIS: 11/90 - Ruwan Kalpage, NCC v BRC at Colts grounds, Havelock Park on Feb. 14.

HIGHEST INNINGS TOTAL: 485/4 decl. - Sebastianites v Antonian SC at De Soysa Stadium on Feb. 6.

LOWEST INNINGS TOTAL: 81 - Antonian SC v Colts at Havelock Park on Feb. 21.

Source :: Daily News (https://www.lanka.net)