The star-studded MAS Unichela ’A’ outfit won the 22nd Mercantile Premier League tournament for the 2014/15 when they won all their matches and remained unbeaten throughout the league with a total of 24 points.
Right-handed middle order batsman Chamara Silva successfully led his team to retain the title which they won last year as well. MAS Unichela played 6 league games during the 7-team competition where most of the national and domestic cricketers represented their companies.
MAS Unichela won their matches due to their team work and the contributions of all players where as other teams depended on few national players to deliver the goods. MAS Active won 4 of their matches and finished on the 2nd place with 16 points while Commercial Credit won their final game against MAS Active to end their campaign on the 3rd position with 14 points. John Keells won 3 games out of 6 matches to be placed 4th while all other three teams namely, Sampath Bank, Seylan Bank and Hatton National Bank followed the standings with only one win in 6 games.
Left-handed batsman Thilina Kandamby of Sampath Bank was the top run-getter of the whole tournament with 318 runs in 6 matches with 1 century and 1 half-century. 20-year old Lahiru Milantha of John Keells Holdings made 290 runs in 6 matches to end up as the 2nd most runs scorer. Two left-handed dashing pair of Kusal Perera and Mahela Udawatta representing MAS Unichela amassed 259 and 252 runs to help their winning cause.
Left-arm spinner Sachith Pathirana of MAS Active became the highest wicket taker with 12 wickets in 6 games while four bowlers namely, Lahiru Gamage (Commercial Credit), Farveez Maharoof (MAS Unichela), Vimukthi Perera (Hatton National Bank) and Maduka Liyanapathiranage (John Keells) captured 11 wickets each to end-up as the join runners-up of the bowling leaderboards.
The standards of the Mercantile ‘A’ division tournament has raised their standards above average once again with high-voltage games being taken place in a month long competition. International cricket stars such as TM Dilshan, Nuwan Kulasekara and Rangana Herath have also played their part for their respective teams.
A total number of 30 matches were played in 7 different venues but most of the games were affected by rain. Sachithra Senanayake’s returned to competitive cricket through this particular tournament where he played 6 matches and took 9 wickets.
The second phase of the Mercantile ‘A’ division cricket will commence on 18th October with the knock-out stage games. MAS Unichela has already advanced to the semi-final stage as they won the league tournament and all other 6 games will fight head to head in order to book their places in the semi-final stage.
1st quarter-final – John Keells vs Sampath Bank at MCA grounds (18th October)
2nd quarter-final – Seylan Bank vs Commercial Credit at Tyronne Fernando stadium (18th October)
3rd quarter-final – Hatton National Bank vs MAS Active at MCA grounds (19th October)
