Arch-rivals and neighbours Sinhalease Sports Club and Nondescripts Cricket Club will vie for the SLC under 23 division 1 cricket title when they lock-horns in the final scheduled to be played on the 29th, 30th and 31st August at Colts cricket grounds.
2013 edition was won by Tamil Union Cricket & Athletic Club and it was their 3rd consecutive title in the under 23 tournament and before the end of August month, a new club will be crowned as the champions.
The first round was played over 7 weeks and the 14 main clubs were divided into two groups. NCC headed the group A points table with 4 outright wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in their 6 games while SSC convincingly won the group B with 4 outright wins and 2 first innings wins to remain unbeaten. Winners will be selected on the first innings win basis if the match does not produce an outright win though a result is huge likely with two evenly balanced teams playing against each other in what will be an epic battle between 22 of the best young talent in Sri Lanka.
NCC’s match results
Beat CCC by 117 runs.
Beat Moratuwa SC by 8 wickets.
Beat SL Ports Authority CC by an innings and 10 runs.
Beat Army SC by innings and 156 runs.
Drawn against Moors SC.
Lost by 93 runs against Colts CC.
SSC’s match results
Beat Ragama CC by 10 wickets.
Beat Tamil Union C & AC by 174 runs.
Beat Navy SC by an innings and 53 runs.
Beat Air Force by 7 wickets.
Drawn against Bloomfield C & AC.
Drawn against Negombo CC.
NCC will be led by Sandun Weerakkody throughout the season with their star opening batsman and wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella representing the Test team and both these left-handers will add stability and aggressiveness into the NCC lineup which also contains the 2nd highest run-getter of the tournament, right handed Pawan Devinda and he has scored 545 runs in 6 games with 1 century under his belt. NCC bowling will be spearheaded by right-arm off spinner Tharindu Kaushal and he had a very successful tournament scalping 47 wickets and he will be itching to cross the 50 wicket mark in the final.
SSC will be captained by all-rounder Sanka Ramesh and the vice-captain duties will be done by Dasun Shanaka. Sanka has scored over 300 runs and captured 16 wickets during the season and he maintains a positive batting average of 40. Dasun has been the best batsman for SSC with his contributions from the middle-order. He has scored over 350 runs and has taken 11 wickets with his right-arm seamers. Left-arm speedster Binura Fernando will be go-to bowler for SSC as he is their leading wicket-taker with 20 wickets. SSC has been performing exceptionally well as a unit and their individual performances have not been extraordinary with no batsman been able to score a century during their 6 group matches.
NCC Squad
Sandun Weerakkody (Captain), Niroshan Dickwella, Tharindu Kaushal, Dushmantha Chameera. Lahiru Madusanka, Pawan Devinda Wickramasinghe, Kaveen Bandara, Lahiru Udara, Ravindu Tillekeratne, Saranga Rajaguru, Saveen Nanayakkara, Mohamed Dilshad, Kushan Weerakkody, Ramesh Subasinghe, Aravinda Akurugoda.
SSC Squad
Sanka Ramesh (Captain), Dasun Shanaka, Ramesh Mendis, Chamika Karunaratne, Kavindu Kulasekera, Binura Fernando, Harith Maduwantha, Vishwa Wijeratne, Kasun Madusanka, Minod Bhanuka, Ramindu Kumarasinghe, Pasindu Madushan, Lakshan Jayasinghe, Pathum Madusanka.
