By Srian Obeyesekere
Milinda Siriwardana struck 127 off 179 balls inclusive of 17 boundaries, and Madawa Warnapura 57 off 135 with 4 boundaries as Negombo CC totaled a handsome 274 against Colombo Cricket Club on the second day of their Group A match of the Sri Lanka Cricket Major League Tournament at the FTZ Sports Complex, Katunayake. CCC, in reply had lost one wicket for 3 runs at stumps.
Meanwhile, in another Group A match, Ragama CC ran p 310 for 6 against Galle CC with Avishka Tharindu dominating with 106 off 127 inclusive of 12 fours with Janith Liyanage 78, Saminda Fernando 60 and Santhush Gunathilake 50 not out propping up the score at the Galle International Cricket Stadium.
Former Sri Lanka batsman Asela Gunaratne struck form with a fine 105 off 141 studded with 12 boundaries and 3 sixes and skipper Lakshan Edirisinghe 67 off 86 with 5 boundaries and 2 sixes as Sri Lanka Army totaled 243 in a Group A fixture against Sinhalese Sports Club who in their turn were 165 for 3 off 30.1 overs with Sri Lanka discard Avishka Fernando making his presence felt with a 94-ball 83 heightened by 8 boundaries and 2 sixes.
Burgher Recreation Club made 242 on a top score of 71 off 96 containing 8 boundaries and 2 sixes in their Group A fixture against Kandy Customs CC. Gayan Sirisome 5 for 53 and Imesh Udayanga 4 for 78 shared 9 wickets between them for KCC which in reply made 157 with Dushan Hemantha claiming 6 wickets for 57 runs. KCC’s top scorer was Sahan Kosala with 37 off 30 (6×4, 1×6).
Nugegoda Sports Welfare Club’s pacer Dilshan Abeysinghe 4 for 17 and Chalana de Silva 4 for 39 combined in bowling out Panadura Sports Club for 146 in the Group A game at De Zoysa Stadium, Moratuwa. However, Panadura hit back to have Nugegoda SWC on 70 for 3 after 29 overs with pacer Nimesh Vimukthi claiming all three wickets at a cost of 29 runs.
Into Group B, Moors Sports Club rattled 332 for 5 against Nondescripts SC on scores of 83 by Pasindu Sooriyabandara off 119 with 6 fours and 2 sixes, Janishka Perera 71 off 128 (9×4), Sohan de Livera 68 off 63 (6×4, 2×6), and Kavindu Kulasekera 53 not out off 122 (1×4, 3×6) at NCC Grounds.
Sri Lankan batsmen Dhananjaya de Silva 45 off 58 with 3 boundaries and a six, and Sadeera Samarawickrama 36 not out of 55 with 2 boundaries rescued Tamil Union C&AC from 3 for 12 to 112 for 4 after 26.3 overs in a Group B game against Sebastianites C&AC at the Sri Lanka Army Ordnance Corps International Cricket Stadium. The pair put on 71 for the fourth wicket.
Tharindu Rathnayake took 2 wickets for 38 and Dushan Vimukthi 1 for 38 for Sebastianites.
Bloomfield C&AC were 122 for 6 in reply to Air Force SC’s 140 in the Group B game at Air Force Ground, Katunayake. Geeth Kumara top scored for Air Force with 53off 83 with 4 boundaries and a six.
Sahan Nanayakkara 3 for 22 and Jeffrey Vandersay 3 for 45 were among the wickets for Bloomfield.
Lasanda Rukmal, Movin Subasinghe and Chathura Randunu claimed 2 wickets each respectively for Air Force SC.
