Inter-Provincial final today: Kandurata meets Ruhuna:

Rousing game in store...

by Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: A rousing game is on the cards when two equally good teams MAS Kandurata and Hirdaramani Ruhuna clash in the Bank of Ceylon Inter Provincial limited overs cricket tournament final at the Moratuwa Stadium today.

Both teams will take the field brimming with confidence after having cleared their semifinal hurdle quite convincingly. Kandurata recorded one of the biggest victories when they thrashed Wayamba by nine wickets while Ruhuna had the better of Basnahira South in another one sided encounter.

Even then Ruhuna captained by former Sri Lanka opening batsman Upul Tharanga will have a psychological advantage following their close four runs victory against the same opponents during a preliminary round fixture played at the Galle Stadium.

In that high profile game Ruhuna managed to score only 213 runs from their 50 overs but did well to restrict their opponents to 209 runs from 49.4 overs. The indications are very much clear that the final too could turn out to be an absolute thriller with a number of former and present Sri Lankan players in the line-up.

Kandurata of course suffered two successive defeats at the hands of Ruhuna and Wayamba respectively. But they were able to avenge that defeat by overcoming Wayamba by nine wickets in the semifinals.

Ruhuna also suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Wayamba in a preliminary round fixture but managed to keep their reputation and went on to finish on top of the points table for the first time. They also had the satisfaction of recording the biggest victory in the tournament in terms of runs when they hammered the SLC Combined XI by a massive 191 runs in their opening encounter.

The strong point in the Ruhuna team is their penetrative bowling attack which has plenty of variety and venom that could upset any batting line up. This was quite clear in the semifinal where they successfully defended a modest total of 228 runs before winning convincingly by 39 runs at the end. The reason was the excellent performances of their three spinners Sachithra Senanayake, Sajeewa Weerakoon and Sanath Jayasuriya.

In fact off spinner Sachithra Senanayake is enjoying a successful tournament and has emerged as the leading wicket taker in the tournament with a tally of 13 wickets so far from six matches. He had a best effort of four wickets for 30 but the most important fact is his economy rate which is 3.49 runs.

Ruhuna team’s batting will revolve around the top four comprising of skipper Upul Tharanga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Dinesh Chandimal and Indika de Saram who is in tremendous form following his fighting half century in the semifinal.

Kandurata will be depending heavily on their openers Kaushalya Weeraratne and Tharanga Paranavithana two of the leading run getters in the tournament. The former has performed his new role as the opener quite successfully with one century and two fifties to his credit.

Paranavithana is also another centurion in the Kandurata side and will be hoping to give their team a flying start along with skipper Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Kapugedera and Thilan Samaraweera.

The main weapon in the Kandurata bowling attack is paceman Thilina Thushara who is in excellent form having claimed a five wicket haul in the semifinal encounter against Wayamba on Friday at this same venue.

Teams

MAS Kandurata:

(from): K. Sangakkara (captain), M. Muralitharan, K. Weeraratne, T. Paranavithana, T. Samaraweera, T. Thushara, J. Mendis, S. Randiv, C. Kapugedera, C. Jayasinghe, K. Gunawardena, K. Elvitigala, S. Gangodawila, N. Nawala, S. Pathirana, S. Niroshan, S. Prasanna and C. Vidanapathirana.

Hirdaramani Ruhuna: (from): U. Tharanga (captain), S. Jayasuriya, D. Chandimal, I. de Saram, G. de Silva, D. Lokuhettige, K. Kulasekera, T. Lakshitha, A. Priyanjana, T. Sampath, S. Senanayake, S. Weerakoon, U. Karunaratne, L. Fernando, S. de Silva, G. Alwis and H. Cooray.

The road to the final

MAS Kandurata:

Beat Basnahira North by 52 runs, beat Basnahira South by 97 runs, beat SLC Combined XI by 8 wickets, Lost to Ruhuna by 4 runs, lost to Wayamba by 2 runs (D/L) and beat Wayamba by 9 wickets (semifinal).

Hirdaramani Ruhuna:

Beat SLC Combined XI by 191 runs, beat Basnahira North by 126 runs, lost to Wayamba by 5 wickets, beat Kandurata by 4 runs, no result v Basnahira South and beat Basnahira South by 39 runs (semifinal).