Colombo Cricket Club overcame Chilaw Marians thanks to a back-to-the-wall half century from Wanindu Hasaranga to claim the SLC Invitational T20 title earlier today (20).
The game produced twists and turns truly worthy of a final as momentum swung from one end to another. Needing 2 runs off the final ball to win it for CCC, it was former Peterite Manelkar de Silva who managed to squeeze the ball past deep third man to the boundary, but there was no doubt as to who the star of the show was. Wanindu Hasaranga, coming into bat at the fall of the 5th wicket, ended up contributing 54 of the 60 runs put on by him and Manelkar for the 7th wicket, at a time when CCC seemed to be out of the contest.
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Chasing 163 to claim the title, CCC were put on the back foot straight away by Asitha Fernando and left arm spinner Nimesh Vimukthi who opened the bowling for the Marians. The pair stifled CCC’s opening batsmen Ron Chandragupta and Malindu Maduranga and were rewarded with their scalps – CCC sinking to 2/4 in 2.1 overs.
CCC looked to regroup with skipper Ashan Priyanjan hitting a couple of boundaries, but he went for one shot too many to be caught at mid-off, giving Thikshila de Silva his 1st wicket of the day. Recovery was hard, but recover they did as wicket keeper batsman Minod Bhanuka got into his stride at one end, while Lasith Abeyratne played an important supporting role on the other, working the singles to give Bhanuka as much of the strike as possible. Abeyratne’s wicket proved to be a crucial juncture in the game as CCC then lost 3 wickets in the space of 4 overs, including the wicket of Bhanuka for 59. Pulina Tharanga was the man to put a brake on things for the Marians, claiming figures of 2/24.
Photos: Chilaw Marians CC vs CCC | SLC Invitation T20 Tournament 2019/20 | Final
At 96/6, with the required rate creeping up over 10 runs an over, CCC seemed to be running out of steam before Hasanga proved that he is no mug with the bat, hitting boundaries at will against a decent Marians bowling attack. The right-hander got runs all around the wicket to bring the equation down to 23 off the last two overs before Asitha Fernando returned to dent the chase with a brilliant 6-run penultimate over – unfortunately, though giving away just 6, he did drop a tough return catch off the bat of Hasaranga in the over, which proved to be a crucial miss.
Hasaranga belted the 1st ball of the last over bowled by Thikshila de Silva for 6 and the 3rd delivery for a boundary, sneaking in 5 more runs before losing the strike for the last delivery of the game – Manelkar de Silva did the rest for the lads from CCC.
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Earlier on, Hasaranga’s day did not get off to the start he would’ve wanted as the leg-spinner was taken for 17 runs in his opening over of the day by Shehan Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya was the star with the bat for Chilaw Marians as he has been all tournament long, playing almost a lone hand for the 50 over champions. His partnership of 126 alongside Kamindu Mendis set the base for what should have been a 180+ score for the Marians but just as they had with the bat, CCC just kept at it, ultimately restricting them to 162.
Jayasuriya looked in fine touch once again but it was the lack of exposure to the middle and lower order during the tournament that ultimately proved to be the Marians’ downfall as none of the batsmen apart from Jayasuriya and Mendis were able to get going on a surface that looked good for batting. CCC came in with the more experienced bowling attack and when the going got tough it was those experienced campaigners in Malinda Pushpakumara and Lahiru Gamage who shone, picking up 4 wickets between them.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lasith Croospulle | c Ron Chandraguptha b Lahiru Gamage | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Kamindu Mendis | c Ashan Priyanjan b Nuwan Thushara | 46 | 30 | 5 | 1 | 153.33 |
| Shehan Jayasuriya | c Malindu Maduranga b Malinda Pushpakumara | 80 | 52 | 9 | 0 | 153.85 |
| Thikshila de Silva | c Wanidu Hasaranga b Malinda Pushpakumara | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Pulina Tharanga | b Wanidu Hasaranga | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Sanoj Darshika | b Lahiru Gamage | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Rumesh Buddika | run out (Lahiru Gamage) | 9 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 90.00 |
| Nimesh Vimukthi | run out (Minod Bhanuka) | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 62.50 |
| Chathuranga Kumara | not out | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 300.00 |
| Irosh Fernando | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 1 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 162/8 (20 Overs, RR: 8.1) |
| Did not bat | Asitha Fernando, |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-9 (2.2) Lasith Croospulle, 2-105 (11.5) Kamindu Mendis, 3-110 (12.4) Thikshila de Silva, 4-122 (14.1) Pulina Tharanga, 5-139 (15.5) Sanoj Darshika, 6-143 (16.6) Shehan Jayasuriya, 7-155 (19.2) Rumesh Buddika, 8-155 (19.3) Nimesh Vimukthi, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malinda Pushpakumara | 4 | 0 | 27 | 2 | 6.75 | |
| Lahiru Gamage | 4 | 0 | 30 | 2 | 7.50 | |
| Manelka De Silva | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 11.00 | |
| Ashan Priyanjan | 4 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 7.75 | |
| Nuwan Thushara | 2 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 8.50 | |
| Shalika Karunanayakke | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 7.50 | |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | 3 | 0 | 31 | 1 | 10.33 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ron Chandraguptha | b Nimesh Vimukthi | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Malindu Maduranga | lbw b Asitha Fernando | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
| Minod Bhanuka | c Thikshila de Silva b Pulina Tharanga | 59 | 38 | 6 | 1 | 155.26 |
| Ashan Priyanjan | c Asitha Fernando b Thikshila de Silva | 14 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 116.67 |
| Lasith Abeyrathna | c Pulina Tharanga b Kamindu Mendis | 10 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 76.92 |
| Shalika Karunanayakke | lbw b Pulina Tharanga | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Wanidu Hasaranga | not out | 60 | 34 | 6 | 1 | 176.47 |
| Manelka De Silva | not out | 15 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 125.00 |
| Extras | 4 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 165/6 (20 Overs, RR: 8.25) |
| Did not bat | Malinda Pushpakumara, Lahiru Gamage, Nuwan Thushara, |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-4 (1.5) Ron Chandraguptha, 2-4 (2.1) Malindu Maduranga, 3-24 (4.4) Ashan Priyanjan, 4-74 (10.4) Lasith Abeyrathna, 5-82 (11.2) Shalika Karunanayakke, 6-96 (13.2) Minod Bhanuka, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asitha Fernando | 4 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 5.00 | |
| Nimesh Vimukthi | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 6.50 | |
| Thikshila de Silva | 3 | 0 | 40 | 1 | 13.33 | |
| Shehan Jayasuriya | 3 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 11.33 | |
| Kamindu Mendis | 4 | 0 | 32 | 1 | 8.00 | |
| Pulina Tharanga | 4 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 6.00 | |
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