Sunday Mar 22, 2026
Sunday Mar 22, 2026
Monday, 16 March 2026 02:37 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Moors SC bounced back strongly from their first innings defeat last weekend to trounce defending champion Bloomfield by four wickets in their Super Eights match played at Colts Grounds yesterday, and thereby regain top position in the race for the Major Club 3-Day League title.
Desperate for a win, Bloomfield, who had conceded a first innings lead of 93, declared their second innings closed at 239-6, leaving Moors SC to chase 147 for victory, which they successfully achieved in 33 overs.
In Bloomfield’s second innings, Ron Chandraguptha (71 off 92 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) and Janith Liyanage (83* off 108 balls, 2 fours, 3 sixes) scored fifties apiece. Moors SC skipper Ramesh Mendis picked up four wickets and steadied the Moors SC run chase with an undefeated 25, adding 45 valuable runs for the seventh wicket with Milan Rathnayake (18*) to see them home after they had slumped to 107-6.
Colts, who conceded a narrow eight-run first innings lead, turned the tables on Ace Capital CC to snatch a seven-wicket win at the CCC Grounds to move to second place behind Moors SC.
Ace Capital CC were bundled out for 169 in their second innings by versatile spinner Akila Dananjaya, who ran through their batting taking 7/69 for match figures of 11/144. Ranesh Silva top-scored with 50 (101 balls, 5 fours) but otherwise, the rest of the batting were all at sea against Dananjaya. Dinesh Chandimal (45) and Sangeeth Cooray (52 off 55 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) got the Colts run chase off at a gallop, posting 84 off 69 balls for former Captain Angelo Mathews to put the finishing touches with an unbeaten 48 off 45 balls.
NCC and CCC had to be content with first innings points only, despite piling up massive totals in their respective matches.
Forced to follow-on after being dismissed for 237 in their first innings in reply to NCC’s huge total of 631-9 declared at the Galle Cricket Stadium, Police SC hung on grimly for 53 overs to deny NCC outright points by scoring 206-6. A lot of credit should go to 21-year-old Rashmika Hirushan, who stuck it out for 118 balls to remain undefeated on 70 (8 fours) against the wiles of 23-year-old left-arm spinner Shakthi Udara (4/56), NCC’s most successful bowler with 33 wickets (avg. 22.33) in his first five first-class matches. Seamer Kavindu Pathiratne (23) took 4/32 for NCC in the Police SC first innings.
BRC were indebted to their eighth-wicket pair Yasiru Rodrigo (59 off 154 balls, 4 fours, 1 six) and Murvin Abhinash (55 off 138 balls, 5 fours) for denying CCC an outright win at the Pallekele Cricket Stadium.
The pair added 90 valuable runs off 243 balls for BRC to recover from 120-7 to 243. Forced to follow-on 289 runs in arrears, BRC in their second innings made 65-2. Nishan Peiris, the Sri Lanka Test off-spinner, took 6/66 for CCC.
