Defending champ Tamil Union qualifies for SLC Major L/O semi-finals

Defending champion Tamil Union and Ace Capital CC from Group A and, Sri Lanka Army SC and CCC from Group B qualified for the semi-finals of the SLC Major Limited-Over semi-finals to be played on 30 July.

The semi-finals line-up is: Tamil Union v CCC, and Army SC v Ace Capital CC. The final is scheduled for 1 August.

In the first-round league games concluded yesterday, Tamil Union topped Group A with 30 points (10 wins from 12 matches) with part time left-arm slow-medium bowler Navod Paranavithana returning career best figures of six wickets for eight runs in their nine-wicket win over Bloomfield. Ace Capital CC who had completed their matches finished second with 27 points (also 10 wins).

Sri Lanka Army SC headed Group B with 33 points (11 wins) with a five-wicket win over Negombo CC. Two former Sri Lanka cricketers Seekkuge Prasanna and Army skipper Thisara Perera made light of the target of 134 scoring at a rapid rate. Prasanna made 61 off 21 balls (9 fours, 3 sixes) and Perera 47* off 15 balls (6 fours, 3 sixes). 

CCC also ended their league matches on a winning note beating Galle CC by nine wickets with Nimesha Gunasinghe (80* off 64 balls) and Pawantha Weerasinghe (89 off 79 balls) sharing an opening stand of 156. CCC finished runner-up with the same number of wins as Army SC but with 30 points. Finalist of the last two tournaments Ragama CC failed to qualify. (ST)