Two leg spinners Dilum Sudeera of Tamil Union and Theesan Vithusan of Moors SC took bowling honours with highest wickets of 31 each in the ongoing Major Emerging club 3 day day Cricket tournament conducted by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC).
Sudeera the 21 year former Richmond and National under 19 bowler was outstanding in this tournament with taking match bag of 13 wickets in back to back two matches. He took 5 for 41 and 8 for 32 in their match against Panadura SC while in their last game against Baduraliya SC once again Sudeera captured 5 for 60 and 8 for 21 guided Tamil Union to get an innings victory. Tamil Union so far played three matches and won all three to come on top of the Group ‘C’ while Ragama CC on second place with two wins and a draw in their C group.
Moors leg spinner Teesan Vithusan also among the wickets with taking equal number of 31 with Sudeera. The former Jaffna Central bowler Vithushan took match bag of 11 wickets against Navy SC while he took match bag of 9 wickets against Sebastianites.
Meanwhile Ragama CC’ s Avishka Tharindu who scored two double centuries in this tournament came on top among the batters. The former St Anthony’s Wattala right hander scored 215 against Panadura SC while he made an unbeaten 210 in their last game against Nugegoda SC already scored highest 478 runs in three matches with an average of 239.00. BRC’ s left hander former Mahindian Vinura Dulsara having 419 runs in four matches is in second place among the batters while NCC’ s opener Johanne de Zilva having 411 runs in third place followed by Sanoj Dharshika of Bloomfield (396) and Ravindu Rashantha of Colts (386).
Moors SC, NCC, Tamil Union and Colts CC are on top of their groups in this tournament. Moors SC’s ninth wicket pair Kavindu Ranasinghe (30) and Thilan Prashan (35) put on a fighting 61 runs stand which guided them to gain first innings points from CCC to retain their top position of the Group A.
Last week Negombo CC took first innings points from NCC to come within two points of the Group B leaders with a game in hand while right-arm medium-fast bowler 21-year-old Kavindu Dilhara took a match bag of nine wickets for 63 to give Galle CC a win by 235 runs over Kalutara TC.
Saracens SC recorded first win of the tournament defeating Kurunegala YCC by 198 runs last week while SSC, Sebastianites, Tamil Union, Ragama CC and Army SC also ran out winners in their respective matches.
Twelve more matches will commence from today (18) while Tamil Union will meet Ragama CC in their Group C game at P Sara Oval which is going to be the key game in this week. However Ragama CC most successful batter Avishka Tharindu is not available for this game as he got first class debut yesterday for Jaffna team at the National Super League 4 day cricket tourney.
Moors SC will meet Air Force in their Group A match while Moors also tried to win the game to remain top spot in the Group A.
Following matches will start from today (18):
Air Force Vs Moors at Katunayake, CCC Vs Sebastianites at CCC, Lankan CC Vs Navy at Welisara,Chilaw Marian’s Vs NCC at NCC, Negombo CC Vs Kurunegala YCC at Katunayake, Bloomfield Vs Saracens at Bloomfield, Tamil Union Vs Ragama CC at P.Sara Oval, Baduraliya SC Vs Police at Maggona, Nugegoda SC Vs Panadura SC at Panadura,Galle CC Vs Army at Army grounds, BRC Vs Kalutara TC at BRC, Acc Capital Vs Kandy Customs CC at Thurstan grounds.