Day of reckoning for the eight qualifiers

Plenty of action is in store when the knockout rounds of the SLC Major T20 commences today

• SLC Major T20 Inter-Club quarter-finals today

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Six of the eight clubs that qualified for the quarter-finals last year have made it to the last eight of the SLC Major T20 Inter-Club Tournament for 2021 that commences today at two venues – P. Sara Oval and CCC grounds.

The two matches at the P. Sara Oval are between defending champions CCC and Ragama CC in the morning and NCC and Kurunegala Youth CC in the afternoon.

At CCC, the morning game is between SSC and Colts, which will be followed by the Army SC v Negombo CC match in the afternoon.

The winners of these four matches will qualify for the semi-finals scheduled for 18 March at the NCC. The final is on 20 March at the SSC.

The two teams that failed to qualify for the quarter-finals this year are last year’s runner-up Chilaw Marians CC and Badureliya CC. Instead, Kurunegala Youth CC and Negombo CC have come through.

CCC won the title last year in a last-ball thriller beating Chilaw Marians by four wickets with Sri Lanka all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga playing the pivotal role, scoring an unbeaten 60* off 34 balls. Hasaranga won’t be there in CCC’s defence of the title, but they have plenty of players in their ranks to bring them another title in the form of wicket-keeper batsman Minod Bhanuka, Lasith Abeyratne and skipper Ashan Priyanjan, the three leading run-getters for the side, and National caps Malinda Pushpakumara, Lahiru Madushanka and Lahiru Gamage, their principal wicket-takers.

Unlike last year when they won all their group matches to head the table, Ragama CC has not had a good run this time (four wins and two loses), qualifying for the quarter-finals purely on the grounds of having beaten Tamil Union in the group match, although the latter had a far superior net run rate. It’s a pity that the only team to score over 200 runs in an innings in the entire first round couldn’t qualify. Ragama’s problem lies with their batting. In the entire first round, they had only one batsman scoring a half-century. However, their bowling looks tidy and penetrative with the two quicks Binura Fernando and Ishan Jayaratne having the major share of the wickets, supported by the spin of skipper Amila Aponso and Janaka Sampath.   

NCC, like CCC, are the only two teams to come through the first round winning all their group matches. Led by their leading run scorer Angelo Perera and having in their ranks National cricketers Chaturanga de Silva and Chamika Karunaratne and Major Clubs Tier ‘A’ Best Batsman Lahiru Udara and young talent in the likes of Sahan Arachchige, Kamil Mishara, Dineth Jayakody, Hasitha Boyagoda, Ashian Daniel and Chamika Gunasekara, they are strong favourites to beat Kurunegala Youth CC, who upset last year’s runner-up Chilaw Marians CC in the opening match of the tournament. Openers Gayan Maneeshan and Danushka Dharmasiri have been their leading run scorers, while the bowling has been largely dependent on Randeera Ranasinghe and Nimasara Atharagalla.

SSC and Colts are two sides with strong batting line-ups, but a tad low in the bowling department. Both sides have plenty of talented players to produce a close encounter. Navanidu Fernando, Krishan Sanjula and Nipun Dananjaya have been SSC’s key batters and Himesh Ramanayake, Kalana Perera and Jeffrey Vandersay their leading bowlers. For Colts, their batting has been dependent on Priyamal Perera and Sangeeth Cooray and the bowling of left-arm spinner Rohan Sanjaya. They also have a match-winning all-rounder in Dhananjaya Lakshan.

Army SC, with the vastly experienced Sri Lankan all-rounder Asela Gunaratne, looks quite a formidable side against Negombo CC. The soldiers dropped only one game and dominated the remaining five to top Group D. Their strong point has been the bowling with National caps Gunaratne and Seekkuge Prasanna, who are supported by their leading wicket-takers Maheesh Theekshana and Janith Silva. Negombo CC’s success has been largely reliant on their batting headed by National cap Dilshan Munaweera, Lahiru Milantha and Angelo Jayasinghe. Fast bowler Roshen Fernando and off-spinner Nishan Peiris have been their most destructive bowlers.

Following nine days of intense competition to qualify for the top two positions in each of the four groups, for the teams that have come through to the knockout stage, today is the day of reckoning for them, as one slip could see them being thrown out of the tournament.