The second week of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Premier League tier A tournament came to an end last week, while the tier B segment of the same tournament kicked off during the weekend.
We take a look at some of the most notable performances and matches from the previous week while also taking you through what is in store for the upcoming weekend.
The match of the week in the tier A segment was by far the match between BRC and Chilaw Marians played at the FTZ grounds in Katunayake. After a see-saw tussle during the first couple of days, BRC thought they had it in the bag with just 95 runs to get on the final day for an outright victory. But the left arm orthodox spin and right arm off spin combination of Malinda Pushpakumara and Sachithra Serasinghe dismantled BRC for just 94 runs to record only the second tied game in the history of first class cricket in Sri Lanka, while it was also the lowest victory target that wasn’t chased down in domestic cricket in Sri Lanka.
SSC and NCC recorded crucial outright victories over Saracens and Tamil Union respectively, while the top performance of the week with the bat came from the discarded Kusal Mendis when he slammed a mammoth 177 for his club CCC in their first innings loss to Moors SC.
Malinda Pushpakumara was the star with the ball once again as his match bag of 10 wickets helped his side secure a dramatic tie against BRC. The most promising bowling performance of the weekend was from Champaka Ramanayake’s younger son Himesh Ramanayake for BRC, as he picked up a 5 wicket haul in the second innings on a rank turner in Katunayake to dismiss a strong Chilaw Marians line up for just 117 runs.
The tier ‘B’ tournament saw some dramatic results on the weekend with the most eye catching result being Air Force toppling pre-tournament favorites Galle CC. Galle looked in control for most of the match and Air Force SC were reduced to 4/39 chasing 212 for victory on a pitch which took plenty of turn. This is when Ex- Galle CC player Dulash Udayanga stood up to the task for Air Force SC with a century to remember against the likes of Gayan Sirisoma, Charitha Buddhika, Hasantha Fernando and co to pull off one of the best come-from-behind victories for the Airmen who were almost relegated last season.
Navy SC recorded the only other outright win in the tier B segment when they beat Kurunegala SC by 8 wickets on the back of a Kusal Edirisuriya century, while the much-fancied Lankan CC outfit were saved from the jaws of defeat when they held on for a draw against Negombo CC thanks to a fighting knock by Geeth Kumara.
Thusith De Silva’s 8 wicket haul for Kurunegala was the star performance with the ball in the tier B segment, while Rajeewa Weerasinghe, Shohan Rangika and Nimesh Vimukthi all picked up 5 wicket hauls.
The CCC vs Colts tussle is one of the matches to watch out for in the coming week, while you can catch the live action of the encounter between Army SC and Tamil Union on ThePapare.com, Dialog TV channel no.1 and Dialog MyTV. It will also be the first time that star Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis will be seen in action since a long injury lay off, as he is set to turn up for Army SC after a lapse of almost 2 years.
Galle CC will look to get back on track when they face the newly promoted but high riding Negombo CC outfit in the tier ‘B’ segment along with Kalutara Town Club who will turn up for the first time in the tournament this week when they take on Panadura SC.
 Premier League tier A tournament came to an end last week, while the tier B segment of the same tournament kicked off during the weekend.){kind=link}