SLC Major Club Women’s 50-over tournament Unbeaten Navy SC declared champions

Tuesday, 19 August 2025 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Harshitha Samarawickrama, leading batter for Navy SC and tournament’s highest run-getter, Inoka Ranaweera, Navy SC’s leading bowler and tournament’s highest wicket-taker

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka Navy Sports Club were declared SLC Major Club Women’s 50-over champions for 2025 after going through the tournament unbeaten and finishing on top of the table with nine wins out of nine and 18 points.

Chilaw Marians CC with eight wins and 16 points ended as runner-up.

Navy SC led by national player Hansima Karunaratne were the dominant side right throughout the tournament. They had the leading run-getter and the leading wicket-taker in the tournament in their ranks. National star Harshitha Samarawickrama was not only their leading player in the batting but also the main run-getter in the tournament with 471 runs (avg. 58.88) and 2 centuries and a fifty. Similarly in the bowling, it was another national cricketer left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera with 23 wickets (avg. 6.57) and a staggering economy rate of 2.13 runs per over.

Apart from Harshitha and Inoka there were a number of other national players in the squad who contributed towards Navy SC’s success – Hasini Perera (274 runs with 3 fifties), Hansima Karunaratne (201 runs with 1 fifty) and uncapped Nilakshana Sandamini (211 runs with 1 fifty) in the batting. Sathya Sandeepani (17 wickets, avg. 11) and Udeshika Prabodhani (16 wickets, avg. 8.5).

Chilaw Marians CC led by national cricket captain Chamari Athapaththu had to be content with second place their only loss being to champions Navy SC. Chamari was their best batter with 330 runs (avg.55.00) but her performance was far from her best and what she is capable of. Chamari failed to get past the three-figure mark even once and scored 4 fifties. She was head and shoulders above the rest of the team with 145 runs being the second highest. In the bowling Sri Lanka off-spinner Dewmi Vihanga finished as the second highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 22 wickets (avg. 9.77). She was supported by Chamari and Kawya Kavindi with 11 wickets apiece.

Sri Lanka women’s opening batter Vishmi Gunaratne also had a good tournament with the bat finishing as the second highest run-scorer behind Harshitha with 420 runs (avg. 52.50). Vishmi who captained CCC made the highest individual score in the tournament with 166 against Colts to add to her 3 fifties. CCC managed only 2 wins out of 9 matches and depended heavily on Vishmi’s contribution with the bat.

Unlike last year when a semi-final and final was played to decide on the champions this year the tournament was run on a league basis with each of the 10 teams playing each other once and the team finishing on top of the league being declared the winner.