Basnahira North take Inter-Provincial Title

Chris DHAMBARAGE

CRICKET: Basnahira North lifted the SLT Inter Provincial cricket title with a convincing ten wicket outright victory over Wayamba Province with more than a day to spare in the final concluded at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

Wayamba Province trailing by 166 runs on the first innings folded up for a modest 181 in their second attempt which gave them an overall lead of just 15 runs. Basnahira North then notched up the required runs from two overs to complete a one sided encounter.

The match winner for Basnahira North was their all rounder Muthumudalige Pushpakumara who snapped up four wickets for 49 following his excellent performance with the bat.

The right arm off spinner who represented Tamil Union in the SLC Premier League Tier A tournament mesmerised the Wayamba Province batsmen with a tantalising spell of bowling.

Pushpakumara first broke a threatening opening partnership between Michael van Dort and Mahela Udawatte who had looked comfortable until then having added 66 runs from 20 overs.

In fact van Dort had settled down to play a big innings and had just completed his half century from 89 deliveries with the help of eight boundaries.

His partner Mahela Udawatte was playing a good supporting role having struck five boundaries until then. However with the introduction of Muthumudalige Pushpakumara the game took a dramatic turn with Wayamba Province losing wickets at regular intervals.

Wayamba Province then changed their tactics and promoted all rounder Kaushal Lokuarachchi in the batting order.

However he could not deliver the goods and became the only victim of fast bowler Roshan Fernando.

Basnahira North never looked back from their onwards and really kept the pressure on while capturing wickets at regular intervals. Pushpakumara and the first innings hero Dharshanapriya formed a successful spin combination to dismiss their opponents for a score of under two hundred runs.

All rounder Jeevantha Kulatunga also made a desperate attempt to save Wayamba Province from further humiliation but failed make an impact with the bat as they lost their last five wickets for the addition of just 29 runs.

Wayamba 1st innings 223

Basnahira North 1st innings 389

Wayamba 2nd innings:
M. Van Dort c Perera b Pushpakumara 50 M. Udawatte c Mathews b Pushpakumara 28 K. Lokuarachchi c Pushpakumara b Fernando 20 J. Mubarak b Darshanpriya 20 L. de Silva lbw b Kulasekara 7 J. Kulatunga c Fernando b Pushpakumara 37 T. Perera b Kulasekara 2 D. Hunukumbura c Mathews b Pushpakumara 6 R. Herath run out 0 I. Udana lbw b Dissanayake 0 C. Welegedara not out 0

Extras (lb 8, w 3) 11

Total all out 181

Fall of wickets: 1-66, 2-91, 3-107, 4-129, 5-143, 6-152, 7-177, 8-178, 9-179

Bowling: N. Kulasekara 11-3-29-2, G. Wijekoon 10-3-27-0, M. Pushpakumara 15.2-0-49-4, T. Kandamby 1-0-5-0, D. Darshanpriya 10-2-28-1, R. Fernando 8-0-31-1, S. Dissanayake 2-0-4-1,

Basnahira North 2nd innings (target: 16 runs)

N. Perera not out 2 I. Daniel not out 10

Extras (b 4) 4

Total for no loss 16

Bowling: M. van Dort 1-0-9-0, M. Udawatte 1-0-3-0.