Barely a week had elapsed since they pocketed their first ever one-day limited overs title beating SSC in the final underlights, when they were brought down to earth by a fighting Moors unit led by former Tamil Union and Sri Lanka opener Chandika Hathurusingha.
The rain-hit game saw Colts finish the first day promisingly placed at 94 for one. But after a blank second day, Moors came back magnificently to capture the remaining nine wickets for a meagre 39 runs. Left with only a total of 133 to chase, Moors began disastrously losing their first four wickets for 50 runs, and then being reduced to 92 for 7, before Hathurusingha in liaison with the younger Bandaratilake, Charith (the elder Niroshan is leading Tamil Union) steered them to a memorable victory. Moors eventually finished on 200 for 9 with Hathurusingha leading from the front taking four important wickets and scoring a useful 40.
It was a fine start for Moors, who under Hathurusingha's leadership made it to the semi-finals of the competition last season.
With all facilities against bad weather available at their disposal, SSC still had to be content with only first innings points against BRC. SSC made a strong effort to obtain full points, but the BRC tail hung on to deprive them of that satisfaction.
SSC's victorious under 24 captain Mahela Jayawardene began the first-class part of the season by scoring the solitary century of the weekend. It was around his knock of 129 that SSC built their total of 304. Former Sri Lankan batsman Sanjeeva Ranatunga also made a worthwhile contribution scoring 80 in a fourth wicket partnership of 115 with Jayewardene.
In the absence of their main strike bowlers, Wickremasinghe, Zoysa, and the two Pereras - Suresh and Ruchira, SSC's bowling was short of quality and although they bowled out BRC for 196 in the first innings and made early inroads into their batting in the second, they were unable to finish the job off.
CCC under a new captain Bradman Weerakoon came agonisingly close to grabbing first innings points against Tamil Union, but fell short of overs. Their bowlers spearheaded by medium-pacer T. Sanjaya (5/32) dismissed the home team for a moderate 146, but they were frustrated by the weather when they began their reply. Eventually, CCC were 14 runs adrift with seven wickets intact when the overs ran out.
NCC were another club who were deprived of first innings points by the weather. Chasing Bloomfield's total of 238, NCC were 48 runs short with half their side still to bat. The match was notable for the bowling of former Sri Lankan left-armer Sajeeva de Silva, who took four wickets and the batting of NCC's acting captain Russel Arnold, who was 18 runs short of three-figures when the match ended.
Bad weather also deprived exciting finishes to two matches. Sebastianites were three wickets away from taking first innings points from Panadura SC, who required 44 runs to turn tables at Moratuwa, while down at Matara, the home team were six down for 111 chasing Antonians total of 187.
Sebastianites skipper S.K. Silva and S. Jayawardena for Panadura took the batting honours with half-centuries apiece, while the bowling was shared by Panadura captain Kapila Silva and Sebastianites leg-spinner Nimesh Perera with four wickets each.
After all the controversy churned out in the first two days, Galle CC's fixture against Singha SC ended in a disappointing note when rain prevented a single ball being bowled on the final day. The match began in controversial circumstances with the pitch not being in suitable condition to start play. Much valuable time was lost in bringing it to some stage where play could possibly begin. Eventually when the match began, it ran into further trouble when one of the umpires had to urgently return to Colombo during the course of the innings. This resulted in the visiting team's refusal to continue the match until a proper replacement umpire arrived.
The bottom line to the whole fiasco is that certain clubs are trying to seek postponement of their matches so as to request a replay later in the tournament which would give them an undue advantage over other clubs. The tournament committee should keep itself aware of various ruses which fringe clubs will try to adopt during the season to avoid relegation.
At the completion of the season, the bottom four clubs will be relegated to the lower ranks and only the top 12 clubs will compete in the Premier championships in future.
Worst hit by the weather was the fixture between Kurunegala YCC and Police SC at the Welagedera Stadium where not a ball was bowled on all three days.
Premier Championship Standings
The following are the Premier Championship standings at the completion of the first weekend of matches on Jan 4:
P WOR W1st LOR L1st ND Btng Bwlg Pts
SSC 1 0 1 0 0 0 2.320 1.8 12.120
Moors SC 1 0 1 0 0 0 1.000 1.0 10.000
BRC 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.480 1.4 2.880
NCC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.955 1.0 1.955
Sebastianites 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.130 0.7 1.830
Panadura SC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.915 0.8 1.715
Bloomfield 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.190 0.5 1.690
CCC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.665 1.0 1.665
Matara SC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.555 1.0 1.555
Antonian SC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.935 0.6 1.535
Colts 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.565 0.9 1.465
Tamil Union 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.730 0.3 1.030
Galle CC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 1.0 1.000
Singha SC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.820 0.0 0.820
Kurunegala YCC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0.0 0.000
Police SC 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0.0 0.000
(Suject to confirmation)
Highest Individual Innings: 129 - Mahela Jayawardene, SSC v BRC at Maitland Place on Jan. 2.
Fastest Century: 136 balls (163 mins) - Mahela Jayawardene, SSC v BRC at Maitland Place on Jan 2.
Best Innings Bowling: 5/32 - T. Sanjaya, CCC v Tamil Union at Sara Stadium on Jan. 3.
Highest Innings Total: 304 - SSC v BRC at Maitland Place on Jan. 2.
Lowest Innings Total: 133 - Colts v Moors SC at Braybrooke Place on Jan. 3.