ICBT crowned champions at Red Bull Campus Cricket Tournament 2019

The International College of Business & Technology (ICBT) went on to emerge champions at the Red Bull Campus Cricket Tournament 2019 – National Finals beating the Foundation of Goodness (FOG) in the finals held at Colombo Colts Cricket Grounds on Sunday, 28th July 2019. 

The 26-team tournament kick-started on the 21st of July in 2 venues, BRC grounds and Colombo Colts Cricket Grounds, with 2 games being played in each ground daily. The tournament was played on a knockout basis. The opponents for each team were selected by a draw. 25 games were played in the tournament including the final. The tournament was made more exciting by the participation of international cricketers like Sadeera Samarawickrama and Priyamal Perera along with more budding talents in the Island. 

The FOG and ICBT teams dominated the tournament right from the start. The star-studded ICBT crushed Sri Lanka Technological Campus in their tournament opener. From thereon, the eventual champions defeated SLIM, Saegis and KDU on their way to the finals.

FOG was equally brilliant as they won against the NSBM, OUSL and Esoft teams to reach the finals.

Kothalawala Defense University and Esoft campus teams were two other teams who shone exceptionally well in the tournament and made it through to the semis.

Coming into the finals, ICBT team won the toss and elected to field first. FOG weren’t batting in the way a team would bat to win a T20 tournament finals right from the beginning. One of Sri Lanka’s youth prodigies, Sammu Ashan, made amends for the trend the top order played. He racked up a quick 64 runs in 43 balls with 4 boundaries and 4 sixes. Wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals for FOG as Ashan also eventually perished off Ranitha Liyanarachchi in the Energizer over. The Energizer over is a special addition to the game in this tournament where every run you score in the over gets doubled while if you lose a wicket the opposition teams get 5 runs added to their total.

Ranitha delivered a killer Energizer over with 2 dots to start with and a crucial wicket with the third delivery. He only went for 3 singles in the over, giving away only 6 runs for FOG off the Energizer while ICBT had already added 5 runs to their total.

Dilshan Kanchana scored 25 runs coming late down the order to help FOG post 159 runs on the board for the loss of 9 wickets in their allotted 20 overs.

Another Sri Lanka U19 player, Charana Nanayakkara bowled exceptionally well as the right-arm seamer bagged 3 wickets for 21 runs. Liyanarachchi and Chameera Dissanayake picked up 2 wickets each. 

Opening the batting for ICBT, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Lahiru Milantha gave them a flying start as the pair raced to 55 runs in 5.5 overs for the first wicket stand. Milantha was bowled by the left-arm spin of Pramud Hettiwatte for 28 runs. 

Samarawickrama made 32 runs up the order and walked back after running himself out. Skipper, Salinda Ushan and Priyamal Perera looked good at the crease as they scored 29 runs and 21 runs respectively. They were dismissed back to back in the Energizer over adding 10 more runs to the FOG total.  

The equation read 41 off 30 and Liyanarachchi was the next to fall, 2 balls further into the game. He was bowled for a duck. 

Visad Randika, Himasha Liyanage and Ayana Siriwardena all played exciting knocks in a game which went down to the wire. 12 runs were needed in the last 2 overs which Liyanage trimmed down to 6 with a maximum off the very next ball. But ICBT lost 2 more wickets before managing the rest. They won the game with 2 wickets in hand with 5 balls remaining. 

There were several exciting games in the tournament and players like Nuwanindu Fernando (ACBT), Malindu Maduranga (Saegis) and Chameera Dissanayake (ICBT) set things on fire with outstanding performances. 

A total of 5 centuries were scored in the tournament. 2 each by Nuwanindu and Malindu while Sangeeth Cooray of Saegis Campus brought up the fifth. Dissanayake was the highest wicket-taker of the tournament with 8 wickets under his belt. 

Nuwanindu was also named the player of the tournament for his sensational 148 & 142 which was followed with another 68 to make a run tally of 358 runs in just 3 games. 

Team ICBT will now be representing Sri Lanka at the Red Bull Campus Cricket Tournament – World Finals which will be held in Dubai later this year. 

Brief Scores of the Final

FOG 169/9 (20)

• Sammu Ashan 64, Dilshan Kanchana 25, Lahiru Hiranya 20, Charana Nanayakkara 3/21, Ranitha Liyanarachchi 2/25, Chameera Dissanayake 2/35

ICBT 170/8 (19.1)

• Sadeera Samarawickrama 32, Salinda Ushan 29, Lahiru Milantha 28, Priyamal Perera 21, Ramesh Mendis 2/33

ICBT WON BY 2 WICKETS