Wattala Anthonians beat Gampaha C.C. by six wickets in the final of the Sustagen Challenge Trophy Cricket tournament match played at B.R.C. ground recently. The tournament was organised by the Gampaha District Cricket Association.
Monto Perera excelled for Anthonions capturing 2 for 18 and top scored with 47 runs. He also bagged the man of the match and best batsman's awards. P. Sivapragasam was adjudged the Best Bowler and Trevin Mathews the Man of the tournament.
Gampaha C.C. all out 123 in 26.2 overs (C. De. Silva 20, C. Attanayaka 20, D. Danduvapprema 29, Ravi Peries 2 for 26, V. Sivaprasagam 2 for 13, Monto Perera 2 for 18).
Wattala Anthonians 129 for 4 in 20 overs (Monto Perera 47, Wijesinghe 11, Trevin Mathews 33, T. Maheshe n.o. 11, Manjula Jayaweera 2 for 28).
Five Test caps in Sri Lanka eleven
Five Sri Lanka Test caps were named in the 18-member squad to represent Sri Lanka XI in the first four-day game against the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy (CBCA) team from Australia who are due to arrive on a tour here from September 8.
Test opener Russel Arnold was named captain with another Test player, Mahela Jayawardena as his deputy.
Sanjeeva Ranatunga, Dulip Liyanage and Pubudu Dasanayake are the other Test players in the squad. The rest of the squad comprises: Naveed Nawaz, Avishka Gunawardena, Sanjeeva Silva, Indika Galagoda, Bathiya Perera, Bateesha de Silva, Erik Upashantha, Hemantha Boteju, Kumara Sangakkara, Chandrakumara Guruge, Ruchira Perera, Dilahara Fernando, Niroshan Bandaratilleke. The first 4-day game is scheduled for September 10, with the second to be played from September 15 and the third from September 20. The three one-day limited-over games between CBCA and the Sri Lanka XI will be played on September 25, 27 and 28. The venues for all these matches have yet to be finalised. [S.T.]
Tough draw for Lanka in Pakistan
World champions Sri Lanka face a tough draw in the four-nation quadrangular cricket tournament in Pakistan to celebrate the nation's fiftieth year of Indepedence.
Sri Lanka open the tournament on November 1 with a game against West Indies, but will have to wait until November 5 for their next engagement which is against South Africa.
Immediately after this game, they are scheduled to take on hosts Pakistan the following day (November 6). If Sri Lanka qualify, they will play the final on November 8.
Thus, after the lung-opener on November 1, Sri Lanka will be subjected to three tough games within the space of four days, which is a lot to ask for from any team.
While the other two participants South Africa and West Indies also have matches on successive days, the draw favours host Pakistan nicely. They have a rest day in between their three matches and the final.
All matches will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore under lights.
The draw: November 1 - SRI LANKA v West Indies, November 2 South Africa v Pakistan, November 3 - West Indies v South Africa, November 4 - West Indies v Pakistan, November 5 - SRI LANKA v South Africa, November 6 - SRI LANKA v Pakistan, November 8 - Final. - [S.T.]
Could this be a world record?
In what could be a world record in the history of limited over cricket, Matara District dismissed Nuwara Eliya district for a paltry 21 and hit off the runs in just two overs to win by ten wickets in the all-island inter-district under-15 cricket tournament.
The tournament is organised by the Kandy District Association for the 'late Dr. C.D.L. Fernando Memorial' and sponsored by Milo and was played at Sri Rahula College grounds.
Nuwara Eliya District who are new to this type of cricket just faced only 19.1 overs with extras contributing as many as 11 and eight batsmen failing to score.
Nuwara Eliya District 21 all out in 19.1 overs (Extras 11, U. Saminda 3 for 3, A. Mendis 2 for 6, A. T. Binara 2 for 5).
Matara District 24 for no loss in 2 overs (Extras 11).