LB Finance sealed their dominance in the 26th Singer-MCA Premier League as they ended on top of the points table at the end of all league matches last Thursday.
The final league match was just a formality between Dimo and MAS Silueta, which finished with a 44-run win for Dimo who ended 4th in the table.
Read: Dimo registers comprehensive victory against MAS Silueta
Champions, LB Finance led by Lakshan Rodrigo, coached by Dilan Ramanayake played their last game a fortnight ago against Dimo which was unfortunately washed out denying them a chance of making it 9 wins out of 9 matches.
LB Finance achieved this feat in only their second season in the top league of the Mercantile tournament.
POINTS TABLE
| Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Tie/NR | Match Points | Bonus Points | Total Points | N.R.R | |
| 1 | LB Finance – A | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 7 | 41 | 2.193 |
| 2 | Commercial Credit – A | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 24 | 3 | 27 | 1.050 |
| 3 | MAS Unichela | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 5 | 27 | 1.285 |
| 4 | DIMO | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 2 | 24 | -0.113 |
| 5 | John Keells – A | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 3 | 21 | 0.638 |
| 6 | Hayleys Group – A | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 16 | 3 | 19 | -0.442 |
| 7 | Teejay Lanka | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 15 | -0.626 |
| 8 | MAS Sileuta – A | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 13 | -1.324 |
| 9 | Sampath Bank | 9 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 11 | -0.988 |
| 10 | Kanrich Finance – A | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 9 | -1.699 |
| In the event of teams finishing with equal points at the end of the league, the dead lock will be broken, firstly in favor of the team having the higher number of wins and secondly on the superior net run rate. | |||||||||
The hero for LB Finance throughout the league was stylish right-hand bat, national cap Sadeera Samarawickrama. The wicket-keeper batsman tops the bating charts of the tournament with 478 runs in 8 matches including 2 centuries.
Players like Dimuth Karunaratne and Lahiru Thirimanne, who are eyeing a spot in the national ODI setup, were placed among the top 5 run scorers while experienced domestic player Oshadha Fernando sits second in the chart with 440 runs in 9 innings. Exciting youngster Charith Asalanka completes the top 5 with an impressive average of 63 in 8 innings.
Top Batsmen
| Player Name | Team | Matches | Not Outs | Runs | Best | Avg | S.R | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | LB Finance | 8 | 1 | 478 | 121 | 68.29 | 87.87 | 2 | 2 | 52 | 3 |
| Oshada Fernando | Kanrich Finance | 9 | 0 | 440 | 133 | 48.89 | 105.52 | 1 | 3 | 39 | 17 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | John Keells | 8 | 0 | 433 | 91 | 54.12 | 97.96 | 0 | 4 | 39 | 4 |
| Lahiru Thirimanne | Hayleys | 9 | 1 | 407 | 109 | 50.88 | 83.40 | 1 | 3 | 27 | 10 |
| Charith Asalanka | LB Finance | 8 | 2 | 378 | 83 | 63.00 | 80.08 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 18 |
Read:Thirimanne and Gunathilaka excel in Mercantile Cricket
Surprisingly none of the LB finance bowlers feature among the top 5 wicket takers. Their highest wicket taker left-arm spinner Charith Sudharaka is the 7th highest wicket taker of the league with 13 wickets in 7 matches.
Right-arm medium pacer Buddika Sanjeewa leads the bowlers chart with 21 wickets in 9 matches representing MAS Silueta. Ambidextrous spinner, Kamindu Mendis sits 2nd in the chart with 19 wickets while right-arm seamer Kavishka Anjula and national cap Prabath Jayasuriya are the next highest wicket-takers of the league.
Top Bowlers
| Player Name | Team | Matches | Innings | Wickets | Best | Avg | Econ | S.R | 4w |
| Buddika Sanjeewa | MAS Silueta | 9 | 9 | 21 | 4/46 | 18.33 | 5.00 | 22.00 | 1 |
| Kamindu Mendis | MAS Unichela | 8 | 8 | 19 | 4/42 | 14.16 | 4.21 | 20.16 | 1 |
| Kavishka Anjula | DIMO | 8 | 7 | 15 | 4/43 | 15.67 | 5.11 | 18.40 | 1 |
| Prabath Jayasuriya | Hayleys | 9 | 9 | 15 | 4/48 | 26.27 | 5.09 | 30.93 | 1 |
| Matheesha Perera | DIMO | 8 | 8 | 14 | 4/31 | 14.57 | 3.62 | 24.14 | 1 |
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