Tamil Union seal Top spot with spin to win Tier “A” limited over Final

Tamil Union skipper Sajith Fernando had no hesitation in electing to bat after winning the toss at the SSC in their limited over Tier “A” finals against arch rivals Chilaw Marians

Tamil Union suffered an early loss in the 3^rd over of the day’s play, when prolific run scorer sajith Fernando was run out for 8. The lads from the Colombo oval were in deep trouble with  4 top order batsmen back in the hut  with the score on 73.The SSC pitch does a bit in the first hour of play. Gayan Wijekoon and Saminda Eranga exploited the given conditions to keep their opponents from scoring freely, by bowling wicket to wicket from both ends. Saminda Eranga  the third seamer for Chilaw Marians was out standing with his ground fielding as well.

Jeevan Mendis batting at number  6 took the responsibility  in resurrecting  the innings. The left hander fell short of a well deserved century by 6 runs when Saminda Eranga had him caught by Milinda Siriwardena for 94. Jeevan’s run a ball 94 was great to watch. He executed 6 fours and a big six. Mendis stuck to his task by playing percentage cricket up until the 50^th over.

Gehan  Silva  made a cameo 22 off 26 balls for the Tamil Union  with 3 hits to the fence. Muthumudalige Pushpakumara  made  21 runs to help  Tamils to build a defendable  score.  Apart from Jeevan Mendis the only top order  batsman to impress was opener Kanchana Gunawardena who made 30 runs in  Tamil Union ‘s  score of  234 runs,  in their allotted 50 over’s.

Chilaw Marians in pursuit of 235 runs to win the coverted title were disappointing up front. They were undone by spin which was introduced by skipper Sajith Fernando in the very first over. Sajith Joined his spin partner Serasinghe  by bowling his off spin in the 3^rd over, the two off spinners scalped 5 Marians top order batsman namely Mahela Udawatte, Amal Athulathmudali,Suresh Perera, Nimesh Perera and Gayan Wijekoon  for just 45 runs in 18 over’s. Malinda Siriwardena and Janaka Gunaratne added 40 runs for the 6^th wicket, but Jeevan Mendis did the trick yet again having Malinda siriwardena caught and bowled for 21 with Chilaw Marians struggling on 85. Mendis stuck again he got the prize scalp of Janaka Gunawardena  for31, when he had him caught by his skipper Sajith Fernando for 31.

With seven batsmen back in the hut the writing was on the wall. When play was called off due to bad light at 4.25pm Chilaw Marians were 143 for 8 wickets

Tamil union were awarded the game, and  are worthy champions of the Tier “A” limited over championship for the year 2009, They win by 63 runs with the D/L method.

Main Scores

Tamil Union 234 for 9 wickets in 50 overs

Jeevan Mendis      94

Kanchana Gunawardena   30

Chilaw Marians 143/8 in 36 Overs

Janaka Gunaratne     31

Bowling

Sajith Fernando 3/36

S.C Serasinghe 2/19

Brian Thomas

Media Manager SLC