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Sri Lanka Premier League, Tier A, 2nd round wrap
Badureliya clinch shock-win against Nondescripts
Sa'adi Thawfeeq
January 28, 2008
Badureliya created the biggest upset of the season by trouncing the formidable Nondescripts team by a 271-run margin at the Nondescripts Stadium. Led by captain Hemantha Wickramaratne, who scored 114, Badureliya managed 339 in their first innings after being put in by Nondescripts. Wickramaratne, though, narrowly missed out scoring a century in both innings when he was dismissed for 91 in the second innings as Badureliya topped 300 twice in the match. Nondescripts' batting was dismantled by Badureliya's all-round bowling strength, collapsing for totals of 191 and 187.The win placed Badureliya second on the points table.
Sinhalese recovered from 52-3 to total 514 and beat Tamil Union by an innings and 104 runs at the P.Saravanamuttu Stadium. The foundation for their victory was laid by their fourth wicket pair of Thilan Samaraweera (125) and Thilina Kandamby (who scored a career-best 163), who figured in a stand of 261. Sachitra Serasinghe's offspin then unsettled the Tamil Union batting as they were forced to follow-on. He ended the match with eight wickets.
In a low scoring game played at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colts recovered from conceding a first-innings lead of 21 runs to beat Ragama by four wickets to retain third spot.
Colombo recovered from their shock defeat at the hands of Moors last weekend to beat Bloomfield by 257 runs at the Colombo Cricket Club Ground. Discarded Sri Lanka batsman, Jehan Mubarak, was in great form for Colombo, scoring 121 and 49.
Following their giant-killing performance last weekend, Moors were brought down to earth by Chilaw Marians, who beat them by 226 runs at the Moors Sports Club Ground. The architect of Marians' victory was the former Sri Lanka left-arm spinner Dinuka Hettiarachchi, who took a match bag of ten wickets including six in the second innings.
Player of the Week: Dinuka Hettiarachchi
Hettiarachchi got his first big break at the age of 24 when he was picked to represent his country against Nasser Hussain's England at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in 2001, but after that he never came under the microscope of the national selectors despite consistent performances in domestic cricket for Colombo Colts, SSC and now Chilaw Marians with whom he has been for the past three seasons.
Part of Marians' success in the past few years has been due to Hettiarachchi's presence but as team manager Godfrey Dabare noted: "Dinuka is a very talented cricketer who for some reason has been overlooked for selection even to the Sri Lanka A team. He was given one opportunity with the A side that toured New Zealand and he performed well. After that he has been performing consistently taking nearly 50 wickets a season without much luck.
"It is frustrating for bowlers like Dinuka to bowl their hearts out and not get a look-in even for the A team. Unless they give opportunities to bowlers like Dinuka there'll come a time when Sri Lanka will be stuck for a quality spinner the day Murali [Muttiah Muralitharan] decides to retire."
Points Table
| Team |
Mat |
Won |
Lost |
Tied |
Draw |
Abandoned |
Pts |
| Sinhalese |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
35.52 |
| Badureliya |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
34.075 |
| Colts |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
31.9 |
| Chilaw |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
22.355 |
| Colombo Cricket Club |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
20.345 |
| Moors |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
19.68 |
| Tamil Union |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
15.28 |
| Nondescripts |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
8.695 |
| Bloomfield |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7.87 |
| Ragama |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6.705 |
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