HNB, John Keells qualify for MCA Super Premier K/O Final

The league winner, Citizens Development Business Finance (CDB), and league no. 2, Mode Engineering, were made to eat humble pie by HNB and John Keells, respectively, in the semi-finals of the 29th Singer-MCA Super Premier League “Knock-out” Tournament 2022, which concluded on Saturday.

HNB scored a narrow two-wicket win over CDB, whilst John Keells had it easy against Mode Engineering, beating them by seven wickets.

The spotlight fell on John Keells’ new recruit, the 21-year old Royalist, Ahan Wickramasinghe, who remained unbeaten with a brilliant 102 in 95 balls, inclusive of five sixes and two fours. Wickramasinghe and Sadeera Samarawickrama (50 not out in 92 balls with two fours) put on a 145-run unbroken stand for the fourth wicket in 161 balls, taking John Keells home with 14 overs to spare.

Once again, veteran Chamara Silva put his experience into good use as he held the crumbling HNB middle-order batting with a vital 36 not out to take them home and dry with 11 deliveries to spare.

The date and venue for the final between HNB and John Keells are yet to be decided.

(BM)

Chief Scores
Top-half semi-final at Thurstan College Grounds: HNB beat CDB Finance by two wickets
CDB 195 in 49 overs (Hasitha Perera 42, Tharindu Ratnayake 23, Roshan Sanjeeva 33, S. Gimhana 22; Gayan Sirisoma 3/24, Madhawa Warnapura 3/34, Dilshan Munaweera 2/43)
HNB 196/8 in 48.1 overs (Raveen de Silva 48, Madhawa Warnapura 41, Chamara Silva 36 n.o., Chamindu Wijesinghe 21; Lakshitha Manasinghe 2/19, Lahiru Madusanka 2/29, Tharindu Ratnayake 2/41)
Bottom-half semi-final at BRC Grounds: John Keells beat Mode Engineering by seven wickets
Mode Engineering 178 in 37.5 overs (Isuru Udana 44, Sammu Ashan 31, Raveen Sayer 19, Dushan Hemantha 26; Ishan Jayaratne 3/40, Duvindu Tillakaratne 3/28, Akila Dhananjaya 3/47)
John Keells 179 for 3 in 36.3 overs (Ahan Wickramasinghe 102 n.o., Sadeera Samarawickrama 50 n.o., K. Bandara 22)