Sri Lanka - Sara Trophy Review And Tables (15 Dec 1995)

Sara Trophy cricket Review:

Gunasekera, Jayasinghe score centuries on debut

A Coca Cola Sara trophy Segment `A` weekend without Marvan Atapattu still turned out to be quite a profitable one for batsmen with no less than eight of them crossing the century mark - which is easily the highest for one weekend in the current season.

Before his departure to Sharjah, Atapattu set the pace with hundreds in the first three weekends of the season.

Most significant of last weekend`s centuries were those scored by Suresh Gunasekera of SSC and Chaminda Jayasinghe of Tamil Union. Both made them on their debut in division I club cricket and they were both past captains of their respective schools.

Gunasekera, formerly of S. Thomas` College, Mt. Lavinia hit a sparkling 160 and shared the highest partnership of the season - 249 for the third wicket with Upul Fernando (who also completed a century) to lay the foundation for SSC`s total of 461.

Colts replied boldly but fell 100 runs short. However, the first innings points garnered by SSC brought them their fourth win of the season and kept them within striking distance of the leaders. Gunasekera followed his first century with a half-century in the second to complete a memorable batting double on his debut match.

Jayasinghe, a former Thurstan College captain followed in Gunasekera`s footsteps when he made an undefeated 102 to become the third centurion in Tamil Union`s massive total of 501 for 4 declared - the highest total of the season.

Jayasinghe came into the side as replacement for Upul Chandana who is in Sharjah with the Sri Lanka `A` team, made full use of the opportunity to crown himself with a debut century. Unfortunately, his joy has been short-lived because as the `Daily News` understands, he has hurt his finger at practice while batting and will be out of this weekend`s game against Bloomfield at Reid Avenue.

Jayasinghe shared an unfinished fifth wicket stand of 128 with his captain Jeevaka Weerasinghe (52), which was the third such partnership of the innings. Opener Ruwin Peiris (139) was involved in the other two - sharing 133 for the first wicket with Thusira de Silva (60) and 141 for the second with promising wicket-keeper batsman, Indika de Saram, who completed his second century of the season (126).

With the exception of Saman Jayantha, who scored a century, the rest of the Singha batting succumbed to the pace and spin combination of the home side to lose the match by an innings. Singha SC have been running up sizeable totals this season, but their bowlers have been unable to restrict the opposition to within limits of their batting strength.

The leadership of Segment `A` changed hands for the third time in four weekends this season when Sebastianites went to the top for the first time. Bloomfield held the top position for the first two weekends, but their defeat at the hands of SSC saw NCC take over in the third week. With NCC suffering their first defeat of the season against Bloomfield last week, Sebastianites who were lying second went to the top when they beat Police on the first innings.

No outstanding performances featured the match, but an opening stand of 127 between the in-form S.K. Silva and Marlon Peiris, who both completed half-centuries saw Sebastianites reach 278 in the first innings, despite a good bowling performance by P.K. Serasinghe, whose left-arm leg-spin fetched him excellent figures of 6 for 40 off 32 overs.

Thanks largely to Chandana Mahesh`s safe pair of hands - he held onto six catches at slips in the Police first innings - a Sri Lankan record in first-class cricket and only one short of equalling the world record of seven, Sebastianites enjoyed a first innings lead of 105. However, their attempts at bowling Police out a second time after setting them a target of 222 in 44 overs proved futile by Chaminda Jayasinghe`s 127-ball knock for 91.

NCC had only themselves to blame for their first defeat of the season when they spilled five chances on the opening day and allowed Bloomfield to recover from 140 for 7 to 324 - a total which they defended very well mainly through the bowling of Bathisha de Silva (6 for 19). The former D.S. Senanayake MV captain had an excellent game all-round, adding twin fifties (76 & 61 n.o.) to those bowling figures.

NCC`s defeat leaves only SSC and Galle CC as the only two clubs unbeaten this season. Galle CC moved to fourth place in the table with their third win in as many matches. Former Sri Lankan oneday all-rounder Uvaisul Karnain`s double of 51 not out and five wickets for 53 runs paled into insignificance when Galle CC beat them outright through their pace cum spin combination of S.M. Faumy, Malaka de Silva and Jayananda Warnaweera in a low scoring game at Galle, where Duminda Wickremasinghe`s innings of 70 was the highest.

Two former club captains Asanga Seneviratne (CCC) and Vijth Deshapriya (Panadura SC) with a century apiece ensured victories for their respective clubs over Wattala Antonians and Moratuwa SC. However, Antonian skipper Priyantha Perera took part of the spotlight away from Seneviratne when he carried his bat out for a dogged innings of 64 in nearly six hours, batting throughout 95 overs.

The regulations for slow over rates as set out by the International Cricket Council (ICC) is : two minutes per wicket taken and four minutes for a drinks break. Overs are calculated at the end of the match and not at the end of each innings.

The failure of the tournament committee to specifically include these regulations in the playing conditions of the division I tournament has led to clubs adopting different methods of calculating over rates. One club for instance, deducts five minutes for each drinks break, thus greatly reducing chances of being fined for slow over rates. This club maintains that they have adopted this method because the tournament committee deducted five minutes for each drinks break at an inquiry into a match of theirs played last season.

Kandy CC opened up a healthy 15.1 points lead over their rivals in Segment `B` of the Coca Cola division I tournament, when they registered their third outright win in four matches.

Another century from Duncan Arnolda (his second of the season) saw Kandy CC to a total of 301, which proved more than sufficient to bring them an innings victory over Matale CC. A. Gunewardena and I. Fernando, each took five wickets apiece. The only redeeming feature for the losers was former St. Thomas` Matale captain Anand Kumara`s five-wicket haul with his off-breaks.

Despite two fine bowling performances by left-arm leg-spinner Dhammika Surendra (match bag of 10 for 141) and Mahesh Saverimuttu (5 for 111), Negombo CC finished on the losing side to Matara SC. Apart from Shehan Samaratunga`s knock of 89, the rest of the Negombo batting failed dismally against the bowling of Nalin Guruge who took seven wickets in the match.

Kurunegala SC moved to third place behind Matara SC when they beat Saracens outright. Their win was set up by former Devan, Thusitha Herath, who raced to the fastest century this season in 116 balls and Chalitha Ratnayake, who followed his innings of 55 with 6 for 47 off 30.1 overs. A. Rajapakse weighed in with six wickets in the second innings.

Former Moors SC cricketer M.R.D. Hameen and former Bloomfield fast bowler Dushantha Ekanayake played the stellar roles in BRC`s first win of the season. Hameen, opening the batting contributed 105 and 58. Ekanayake grabbed 10 Air Force wickets for 107 runs including seven in the first innings.

The bowling of H.L. Champika and the all-round contribution of S. Sanjeeva brought Ambalangoda Rio their first win of the season. Champika took four wickets in each innings to rout Kalutara TC twice. Sanjeeva had two good knocks of 35 and 51 and a match bag of four wickets.

HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL INNINGS :

250 (n.o.) - Duleep Samaraweera, Colts v CCC at Maitland Crescent on Dec. 2.

FASTEST HUNDRED :

140 mts - Sanjeeva Silva, Sebastianites v Moratuwa SC at Tyronne Fernando Stadium on Dec. 2.

119 balls - Suresh Gunasekera, SSC v Colts at Maitland Place on Dec 8.

BEST INNINGS ANALYSIS :

7/53 - Ruwan Pushpakumara, Singha SC v Bloomfield at Reid Avenue on Nov. 17.

BEST MATCH ANALYSIS :

8/82 - Niroshan Bandaratilleke, Tamil Union v CCC at Maitland Crescent on Nov. 19.

HIGHEST INNINGS TOTAL :

501/4 decl. - Tamil Union v Singha SC at Sara Stadium on Dec. 9.

LOWEST INNINGS TOTAL :

66 - Police SC v Panadura SC at Police Park on Nov. 19.

COCA COLA DIVISION I SEGMENT `B` STANDINGS

The following are the Coca Cola division I Segment `B` standings at the completion of the fourth weekend of matches on December 10 reading under : (Played, Won Outright, Won 1st Innings, Lost Outright, Lost 1st Innings, No Decision, Points).

Kandy CC 4 3 1 0 0 0 60.5 Matara SC 4 2 0 2* 0 0 45.4 Kurunegala SC 4 2 1 1 0 0 45.1 Old Cambrians 4 2 0 1* 1 0 43.4 Kalutara PCC 4 1 1 2 0 0 34.8 Nomads 2 2 0 0 0 0 33.4 Negombo CC 4 1 1 1 1 0 32.7 Kalutara TC 3 0 1 2* 0 0 23.0 Ambalangoda Rio 2 1 0 0 1 0 22.1 Kandy YCC 2 0 2 0 0 0 19.0 BRC 2 1 0 0 1 0 18.7 Saracens 4 0 1 3 0 0 17.7 Matale CC 4 0 0 1 3 0 13.0 Air Force 3 0 0 2 1 0 11.2

(Subject to confirmation) * includes 4 points for leading on first innings in a match lost outright.

HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL INNINGS :

212 - Duncan Arnolda, Kandy CC v Kurunegala SC at Asgiriya Stadium on Nov. 24.

FASTEST HUNDRED :

116 balls - Thusitha Herath, Kurunegala SC v Saracens at Welagedara Stadium on Dec. Dec. 8.

BEST INNINGS ANALYSIS :

9/60 - Dhammika Surendra, Negombo CC v Old Cambrians at Katunayake on Nov. 26.

BEST MATCH ANALYSIS :

12/85 - Dhammika Surendra, Negombo CC v Old Cambrians at Katunayake on Nov. 26.

HIGHEST INNINGS TOTAL :

423 for 7 decl. - Kandy CC v Kurunegala SC at Asgiriya Stadium on Nov. 25.

LOWEST INNINGS TOTAL :

49 - Matara SC v Kurunegala SC at Welagedera Stadium on Nov. 19.

Source :: Lake House/Lanka Internet Services Ltd