Despite two valiant batting performances by No. 4 batter Manasa Madubashana (85 runs in 103 balls, inclusive of a six and 07 fours) & No. 9 batter Lakshan Sandakan (54 runs in 54 balls, inclusive of 2 sixes and 6 fours), Singer Sri Lanka “A” held on to a heart stopping 5-run win over Expolanka Holdings in the Final, that went right to the wire, in the MCA Premier League 50 Over (White ball/ coloured clothing) tournament 2025, concluded on Saturday, 30th August, at the MCA grounds.
Singer Sri Lanka “A”, who won the toss and batted, put up a challenging 265 for 8 in 50 overs, with Hiruna Gallage top scoring with a well compiled 79 runs, in 101 balls, inclusive of a six and 4 fours & Kavindu Nirmana with a brisk 51*, inclusive of 5 sixes and 2 fours.
Expolanka Holdings chasing a victory target of 265 runs in 50 overs (RPO 5.32), lost 4 of their top order batters for 59 runs in 15.4 overs.
Manasa Madubashana steadied the innings with 3 valulable partnerships, for the 5th, 6th & 8th wickets with Nimesha Gunasinghe (21), Malsha Tharupathi (27) & Lakshan Sandakan (54) which brought the total to 202 for 8 in 43.2 overs.
Singer Sri Lanka Captain, Pasindu Dilshan trapped Madubashana LBW to get back in to the game, but Sandakan was still there holding the fort for Expolanka ; Pasindu Dilshan was hit for 19 runs in the 46th over to give Expolanka a sniff of victory (234 for 08).
Dhanosh de Silva bowling the 49th Over got rid of the menacing, Lakshan Sandakan, LBW and the game once again swung towards Singer, (252 for 9) .
Kavindu Nirmana bowled the 50th over, with Expolanka needing 13 runs to win ; he was hit for two fours by No. 10 batter, Nishan Pieris (15*), but the 4 dot balls that Nirmana bowled during his over proved extremely valuable, as Expolanka desperately fell short by 5 runs for victory (260 for 9).
MCA appointed Match Referee, Nalliah Devarajan named Hiruna Gallage from Singer SL “A” as his Man of the Match.
The other 03 special awards, based on performances up to the play-off’s, went to Dhanosh de Silva, best Bowler with 14 wickets; Hiruna Gallage, best batter, with 256 runs inclusive of 3 half centuries (both from Singer Sri Lanka “A” ) & Malsha Tharupathi, Man of the Series from EXpolanka Holdings, with 144 runs & 8 wickets.
The tournament for the first time was sponsored by Link Natural Products (Pvt) Limited contested for “Musclegard / Crampgard” trophy.
Chief Executive Officer, Ashan Ransilige (Chief Guest) & Head of Corporate Projects, Samagi Rajapaksa (Guest of honor), both from Link Natural Products (Pvt) Ltd. together with MCA President, Mahesh de Alwis & the Chairman of the Tournament Committee, Lakmal de Silva gave away the awards.
Chief Scores:
Singer Sri Lanka “A”- 265/8 (50) Hiruna Gallage 79, Kavindu Nirmana 51*, Dhanuja Induruwa 46, Rashmika Madushanka 42, Dilshan de Zoysa 2/35
EXpolanka Holdings – 260/9 (50) Manasa Madubashana 85, Lakshan Sandakan 54, Malshan Tharupathi 27, Dilshan de Zoysa 21, Nimesha Gunasinghe 21, Dhanosh de Silva 3/44, Pasindu Dilshan 2/48
Result – Singer Sri Lanka ‘A’ won by 5 runs
 & No. 9 batter Lakshan Sandakan (54 runs in 54 balls, inclusive of 2 sixes and 6 fours), Singer Sri Lanka “A” held on to a heart stopping 5-run win over Expolanka Holdings in the Final, that went right to the wire, in the MCA Premier League 50 Over (White ball/ coloured clothing) tournament 2025, concluded on Saturday, 30th August, at the MCA grounds. ){kind=link}