Colts, BRC fill remaining two semi-final spots

Colts and BRC joined Saracens SC and Army SC in the semi-final line-up of the SLC Major T20 inter-club tournament following the conclusion of the first-round league matches yesterday.

Saracens SC topped Group A, BRC (Group B), Colts (Group C) and Army SC (Group D).

The semi-final line-up for 15 June at P. Sara Oval will be BRC v Colts and Saracens SC v Army SC.  

Colts maintained their unbeaten run in Group C by beating Tamil Union by 97 runs to record their fifth consecutive win and finish on top of the group to qualify for a place in the semi-finals. Half-centuries from Sangeeth Cooray (83 off 54 balls, 4 sixes, 5 fours) and Hashan Dumindu (54 off 23 balls, 6 sixes, 1 four) saw Colts reach 211-7 and become only the second team in the competition to top the 200-run mark. Then spinners national cap Akila Dananjaya (4/21) and Muditha Lakshan (3/27) got to work on the Tamil Union batting to put them out for 114.

Ragama CC made a valiant effort to qualify by beating Nugegoda SWC by six wickets and then chasing down a target of 129 inside 13 overs maintaining an overrate of 10.34 to improve their overall run rate. But despite all their efforts they were pipped to the post by BRC who finished on top of Group B with a slightly better run rate by beating NCC by three wickets. Panadura SC were also in the running for the top spot but their eight-run win over Chilaw Marians CC was not sufficient enough to improve their net run rate. Both sides in that match were dismissed for less than 100. All three teams finished on eight points, but BRC ended on top with a net run rate of 0.969 in comparison to Ragama CC’s 0.546 and Panadura SC’s 0.185. In the other matches concluded yesterday Kandy Customs CC and Sebastianites won against Police SC and Negombo CC respectively.