Major Club Cricket Final Chamindu, Kamindu, Ashan guide CCC to title victory

The champion CCC team

By M. Shamil Amit

CCC, led by Ashan Priyanjan, put in a gallant fightback in a high-scoring Major Club Cricket final to record a first-inning win over Tamil Union concluded at the SSC ground yesterday to clinch the title.

The title win saw CCC retain it for the third successive year, with the first achieved in 2018 and the second in 2019, which was the last tournament played that came to a standstill due to the COVID pandemic. On all three occasions, the champion team was led by Priyanjan.

In reply to Tamil Union’s massive score of 558, CCC fought back and ended the third day’s play in a strong position of 411/5, needing a further 148 runs to gain a first-inning win, which was sufficient to clinch the title.

Overnight pair Chamindu Wijesinghe and skipper Priyanjan had little trouble amassing runs.

They continued the good work done by Kamindu Mendis, Minod Bhanuka, and Lasith Abeyratne, with the trio associating in two valuable partnerships.
Chamindu and Ashan featured in the best partnership of the innings as they tormented the Tamil Union bowlers and sent them on a leather hunt.

The pair succeeded in reaching their tons while helping CCC get closer to the target. The separation of the pair, with Chamindu making a top score of 139 after having associated in a valuable 219-run stand for the sixth wicket, followed by Ashan’s dismissal for 100, saw them needing just 14 runs to clinch the title.

Ashan Priyanjan, skipper of CCC, receiving the champions' trophy and cash prize

Later, Pawan Ratnayake and Lakshan Sandakan further frustrated the Tamil Union bowlers as the pair put on 81 runs for the ninth wicket for CCC to end their innings with a mammoth score of 669 runs.

Tamil Union batting the second time, which was for academic interest, ended the final day’s play with a score of 145/4.

Result

At SSC – First inning win for CCC

Tamil Union 558 (Sadeera Samarawickrama 188, Isuru Udana 88, Navod Paranavithana 54, Ron Chandragupta 48, Kavindu Pathiratne 46, Ravindu Fernando 45, Dilum Sudeera 32; Vishwa Fernando 4/102, Lakshan Sandakan 4/128) and 145/4 (Ravindu Fernando 56, Sadeera Samarawickrama 43, Shiran Fernando 28; Sonal Dinusha 2/52)
CCC (411/5 overnight) 669 (Chamindu Wijesinghe 139, Kamindu Mendis 105, Ashan Priyanjan 100, Pawan Ratnayake 85, Minod Bhanuka 75, Lasith Abeyratne 48, Nimesha Gunasinghe 33, Malinda Pushpakumara 27, Lakshan Sandakan 24; Ravindu Fernando 6/160)