The women’s under 26 provincial limited over tournament kicked off with two matches being worked off in Colombo today(8th June).
Kishanthi Sandamali was the star of the game played at the Moors grounds between Western Province and Central Province as she guided Central Province to an emphatic 5 wicket victory with an unbeaten 75 in pursuit of the 161 made by the opponents. Earlier in the day, M. Meththananda(3/33), C. Gunawardena(2/26) and R. Samarasinghe(2/35) shared 7 wickets between them as they managed to restrict the Western Province team to a low score. Nilakshi Silva offered some resistance along with Sherina Ravikumar for Western Province but it was not enough to push them towards a formidable total in good batting conditions.
In the other game played at the MCA grounds, Southern Province collapsed unexpectedly to fall 15 runs short of the target set by North Central Province.
North Central Province taking first lease of the wicket after being sent in by Southern Province made a slow but steady 181/8 in their allotted 50 overs with right handed batswoman Ross Perera making an elegant 66 runs. In reply, Southern Province were coasting along at 120/1 but a cluster of wickets including the big scalp of Anushika Sanjeewani who made a well composed 73, meant they could muster only 166 runs. Hasini Perera did bulk of the damage for North Central Province with 3/31.
Chief scores
Game 1
North Central Province 181/8 (50) Ross Perera 66 , Hansika Karunaratne 25*, Hemanthi Wickramanayake 19, Nilangika Sanjeewani 3/31, Sandani Thivanka 2/31,
Southern Province 166 (46) Anushika Sanjeewani 73, Malsha Shehani 22* , Hasini Perera 3/31
Game 2
Western Province 161 (49.2) Nilakshi Silva 34, Sherina Ravikumar 32, Rebecca Vandort 28, Madushika Meththananda 3/33, Chathurani Gunawardena 2/26, Ruchini Samarasinghe 2/35
Central Province 162/5 (40.1) Krishanthi Sandamali 75*, Mihiri Madushani 34, Shiromi Athukorala 28, Nimali Perera 3/20
