Skipper Thilina Kandamby hit a sparkling century and shared a match winning 78 for the seventh wicket with Charith Jayampathi in just 8.4 overs
Kandurata-Uva Combined chased down a mammoth 310 with a last ball four against North-East Combined in the inter-provincial first semi-finals played at the SSC grounds yesterday.
Needing 31 to win in last 18 balls, left handed Kandamby launched a perfect assault hitting nine runs in the 48th over and hit three consecutive boundaries in the next over to make it just seven runs off the last over.
After some tight bowling in the first five deliveries where Kandurata-Uva Combined managed just four runs needed three runs off the last ball and Kandamby slashed the last ball to the fence, his 14th boundary to record a memorable win. Kandamby was at brutal best shouldering the responsibility and faced just 87 balls for his match winning unbeaten 113.
Kandamby was well supported by Jayampathi who was unbeaten on 24 off 23 deliveries with a six and a boundary.
Earlier batting first North-East Combined scored a massive 310 for the loss of four wickets thanks to some brilliant top order batting. Ian Daniel, the leading run scorer made yet another imposing 81 with nine boundaries and three sixes, Sahan Wijeratne hit a run-a-ball unbeaten 90 with 10 fours and two sixes while Shalika Karunanayake hit a 30 ball 55 with five sixes and three boundaries to propel their total.
Scores:
North-East 310 for 4 in 50 overs (Pabasara Waduge 42, Ian Daniel 81, Sahan Wijeratne 90 n.o, RS de Soysa 25, Shalika Karunanayake 55 n.o.)
Kandurata Uva 312 for 6 in 50 overs (Banuka Rajapakse 63, JK Silva 39, T. Samaraweera 39, Thilina Kandamby 113 not out,WMC Jayampathi 24 n.o)
