SSC Under-23s retain title with ease

SSC 326 beat Chilaw Marians 123 and 197 (MAIM Perera 55, Karunanayake 3 for 57, Gunasinghe 3 for 40) by an innings and 6 runs
Scorecard

SSC showed all-round superiority on their home turf to retain their Under-23 Division 1 title by soundly thrashing Chilaw Marians by an innings and six runs.

Trailing by a massive 203 runs, Chilaw Marians began the third and final day on Sunday at 102 for 3, but their innings was soon in disarray as they lost two wickets on 134 and a further three wickets for one run as SSC, spearheaded by fast bowler Shalika Karunanayake, ran through the batting a second time.

Karunanayake and his new ball partner Chathupama Gunasinghe took 13 wickets between them in the match.

The pair shared eight in the first innings as Marians were routed for a paltry 123 in the first innings. Although they put up a slightly better display of batting in the second innings, with skipper Isuru Perera scoring a fighting half-century off 147 balls, he hardly had any support from the rest of the batsmen.

SSC built their total through half-centuries from A team players Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva. The only redeeming feature for Marians was the fine left-arm leg-spin bowling of Milinda Siriwardene who scalped five SSC batsmen for 87 runs.