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Angelo Mathews (173 n.o.) pats Santhush Gunathilaka (100) on the back on the second day of the Premier Super Eight match between Colts and Saracens SC at the P. Sara Oval yesterday, the pair figured in a partnership of 245
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Defending champions CCC were heading for an innings win over Ragama CC after forcing their opponents to follow-on on the second day of the Premier Super Eight tournament continued at four venues yesterday.
Having piled up a massive 499-7 declared, CCC shot out Ragama CC for 132 and enforcing the follow-on had them reeling at five runs for two wickets in the second innings by the close, still requiring 363 runs to make CCC bat again.
Skipper Kusal Mendis added only seven to his overnight score before he was dismissed for 139 but his partner Wanindu Hasaranga went onto score a pleasing 88 off 97 balls (14 fours) and Lahiru Maduwantha 57 not out off 70 balls (6 fours) to bolster CCC’s total towards the 500-run mark.
Ragama CC’s batting collapsed in a heap as Maduwantha made early inroads into their batting after which the left-arm spin of Malinda Pushpakumara proved too much for their batsmen to handle. Pushpakumara ended up taking four wickets and opening the bowling in the second innings picked up another in the Ragama second innings. Most disappointing for Ragama CC was the failure of their most experienced batsman and national player Lahiru Thirimanne who was dismissed for 12 and 0.
Chilaw Marians held the whip hand in their fixture against BRC.
The 21 year-old southpaw Kamindu Mendis completed his second first-class hundred in 12 matches scoring 136 not out off 216 balls with 12 fours and two sixes to put Marians totally in control of the match. By stumps they had reached 359 for six wickets in their second innings to enjoy an overall lead of 467 from which position they will look forward to push for an outright win today.
Earlier 23-year-old fast bowler Asitha Fernando who has played one ODI for his country in 2017 ran through the rest of the BRC batting capturing four wickets for 42 as the Havelock Park club lost their last five wickets for 20 runs to be shot out for 87.
Centuries by Lahiru Udara (105 off 145 balls, 12 fours, 1 six) and former Sri Lanka captain Upul Tharanga (121 off 166 balls, 19 fours) saw NCC gain a first innings lead over Sri Lanka Army. Replying to the Army’s first innings of 269, ended finished on 323-6 with Udara and Tharanga starring in a partnership of 144 for the second wicket.
Former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews playing his first first-class match for Colts in seven years made it a memorable comeback by completing a hundred and going onto remain 173 not out when the innings was declared closed at 408-6. Mathews struck 12 fours and two sixes in his 262-ball innings.
Mathews and Santhush Gunathilaka carried their third wicket stand to worth 245 before it was broken when former Peterite Gunathilaka having completed his second first-class hundred in only his sixth match was out for 100 scored off 245 balls (3 fours) to give Kasun Rajitha his third wicket of the innings. By stumps Saracens had lost three wickets for 113 runs.
In the Plate competition the match between Lankan CC and Negombo CC was nicely poised for a close finish today. Negombo CC fell short by 32 runs to gain the vital first innings lead but hit back in the second innings to scalp five Lankan batsmen for 67 runs. Lankan CC led overall by 99 runs with five wickets in hand.
Moors SC and Tamil Union took first innings leads over Badureliya SC and SSC respectively.
Super Eight, day two scores:
