Colombo and Galle the final showdown
Galle captain Upul Tharanga-Colombo captain Dinesh Chandimal
SLC Super Provincial tournament:
Almost a fortnight of one-day cricket that included the cream of 60 top cricketers in the country reaches its climax when Colombo take on Galle in the final of the SLC Super Provincial tournament at the R Premadasa Stadium under lights today.
With the pressure to play for places in the national team now a distant dream after the final 15 for the ICC Champions Trophy was announced on Monday the players can rest assured play their natural game without any anxiety.
The tournament which replaced the scheduled 4-day first-class Provincial competition was played to give the players maximum opportunities to perform and clinch a place in the national side.
The player who made full use of it and managed to find a place in the Sri Lankan 15 for England was Kandy captain Chamara Kapugedera whose team unfortunately are not in the final.
Nevertheless the tournament gave Kapugedera the chance to regain his place in the national ODI team after 15 months scoring 287 runs inclusive of two centuries.
That apart Colombo one of the finalists got off to a rather inauspicious beginning being held to a tie by Dambulla and losing to Galle by 188 runs before picking themselves up by defeating Kandy and then Galle in the return match played at R Premadasa Stadium by three wickets successfully chasing down 300 to win by three wickets with an over to spare. They suffered a mild hiccup losing to Dambulla before securing their place in the final with a win over Kandy in the return match.
The first three matches Galle played saw them win and lose two matches by one wicket margins and secure a 188-run win over Colombo only to lose the return match by three wickets. But back to back wins in their final two round robin matches against Kandy and Dambulla where they topped 300 plus on each occasion stamped their class and made certain their place in the final.
Galle has been consistent in running up totals in excess of 300 in four of their six round robin matches. Even on the two occasions they failed to reach 300 they totaled 299-9 and 250-8 which tells you of the batting power they possess in their ranks.
On top of the pile is that promising young opener Sadeera Samarawickrama who has been making waves in the tournament notching up two centuries and being the leading run-getter with 314 runs. Samarawickrama is closely followed by Sri Lanka Test opener Dimuth Karunaratne who has also been in rock solid form contributing 310 runs inclusive of three half-centuries that includes a top score of 89.
While Samarawickrama and Karunaratne contribute at the top of the batting the fact that Galle have been able to go past 300 consistently is largely due to powerhouse Dasun Shanaka down the order. He is the team’s third highest runs scorer with 285 runs and a strike rate of 141.79 and that includes an innings of 121 not out off 95 balls.
With a batting line up comprising Samarawickrama, skipper Upul Tharanga, Minod Banuka, Karunaratne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Sammu Ashan, Dasun Shanaka and Chathuranga de Silva no wonder Galle have displayed the likeness for big scores.
Even in the bowling Galle again has the leading wicket-taker in the tournament – left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara with 12 wickets. He has the support of Suranga Lakmal, Seekkuge Prasanna, Akila Dhananjaya and Chaturanga de Silva.Captain Dinesh Chandimal is Colombo’s leading run scorer (285 runs) and a lot will depend on him if his team are to give Galle a challenging target to chase. Dilshan Munaweera is the only other batsman who has topped 200 (232) in an otherwise Colombo side that has managed to win matches largely not on their batting but with their bowling where there is variety in the likes of Thisara Perera, Lahiru Madushanka and Vishwa Fernando to the spin of Shehan Jayasuriya (12 wickets), Ashan Priyanjan and Sachitra Senanayake.
On paper Galle look the stronger side as many of the Colombo players have not fired in the tournament although the big names like Kithuruwan Vithanage, Dilshan Munaweera, Wanindu Hasaranga, Angelo Perera and Lahiru Thirimanne are in their line-up.
It is the two best teams in the competition that has reached the final and one hopes that they can live upto it and make it a memorable contest.
An SLC media release states that entrance to the final is free and that the game will be telecast live from 2.00 pm on Dialog TV, Sri Lanka Cricket Web, The Papare and Dialog mobile.
excerpt to daily news
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