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Tamil Union provide the piece de resistance

Tamil Union's daring two-wicket victory over last season's runner-up Bloomfield provided the piece de resistance of the eight Premier championship matches concluded last weekend.

Having conceded a narrow first innings lead of 11 runs, the match seemed to be drifting away from Tamil Union when they were reduced to 124 for 5 and then 152 for 7, chasing 228 runs for victory. But Indika Galagoda, the former BRC wicket-keeper had other ideas. He countered attacked superbly and stayed right till the end to see his side through to a fabulous victory.

Galagoda who made an unbeaten fifty was involved in two match-winning partnerships - 53 for the eighth wicket with Niroshan Bandaratilake (25) and an unfinished 24 runs for the ninth with Mario Villavarayen (12).

Galagoda gained a lot of confidence from skipper Upul Chandana, who had earlier set the scene for this enthralling finish. The Sri Lankan one-day all-rounder marked his first appearance on his return from Australia with a sterling performance to lead his side from the front. He first took a career best 7 for 80 off 37.2 overs (previously 6/25) with his leg-spin to dismiss Bloomfield for 216 in the second innings and then followed it up with a compulsive half-century which propelled the earlier batting, after they had lost four for 83.

Playing the passive role was left-arm spinner Bandaratilake, who had already led the club to two successive victories in Chandana's absence. Bandaratilake picked up five wickets in the first innings and with Chandana, the pair took 17 wickets between them in the match. Bandaratilake's consistent performance with the ball has earned him a Test recall against India next week.

Bloomfield to some extent were handicapped by the bowling of acting captain Kumara Dharmsena. Having taken five wickets in the first innings, Dharmasena was not his usual self when bowling in the second innings, apparently aware that his action was being filmed by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL). Having taken an early wicket, Dharmasena eventually finished with figures of 2 for 73.

The problem with Dharmasena whose bowling action has been questioned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) is that the BCCSL has not given a proper guideline how he should be dealt with. While the BCCSL's technical committee (comprising K.T. Francis, B.C. Cooray, D.S. de Silva, Rumesh Ratnayake, and Saliya Ahangama) is viewing Dharmasena's action, the bowler has been taking wickets constantly in the Premier championships and putting the national selectors in a quandary. The selectors are not chancing their arm with Dharmasena until his bowling action is given the green light. As a result, Dharmasena has been left out of the 30-member World Cup squad and from the 14 named for the Asian Test championship match against India next week.

Panadura - New Leaders

Panadura SC took over the Premier championship leadership bringing to an end the six-week domination of Moors SC at the top. While Panadura registered their fifth win out of seven matches this season, Moors suffered their third straight defeat, going down to CCC and dropped to third place.

Panadura's victory was fashioned out by Sarath Jayawardena (133 and 30) and Buddika Perera (23 and 75 n.o.) whose positive batting set up the final result. Spinner Mangala Jayasena with five wickets and Manjula Silva's four wickets in the second innings also contributed to keep the Antonian totals to within reasonable limits. Antonians had to be content with Kishan Dharmasena's five-wicket haul and Thushara Kodikara's century. Panadura have so far been playing the really weaker sides. From this weekend, they will have to raise their performance one notch higher if they are to obtain the same results when they start competing with the stronger Colombo clubs.

Indisciplined batting by Moors contributed to their downfall in the first innings when they were shot out for a paltry 99 by CCC. Moors captain Chandika Hathurusingha whose leadership was found wanting a fortnight back, when he lost his cool and began swinging his bat around the club house rather than outside it, took control of himself to play a captain's knock to save his team from total humiliation. Moors regained their composure in the second innings to post a much respectable total of 309, largely based on the fourth wicket stand of 173 between Hathurusingha (101) and Rasika Priyadarshana (70).

CCC built their first innings total of 335 around Damith Hunukumbura's knock of 81 supported by half-centuries from Anushka Polonowita and Duncan Arnolda. All-rounder Hemantha Boteju had a good match with the ball taking eight wickets.

The outstanding feature of Sebastianites' ten-wicket win over Police was the wicket-keeping of T.M. Dilshan. Already a member of the World Cup and Sri Lanka 'A' pools, Dilshan excelled himself behind the wickets to snare eight catches (five in the second innings). He has already passed the 500-run mark with the bat showing consistent form throughout and should be in the national selectors' short list for a tour to England if he continues in the same vein. Sanjeeva Silva made the top score ofthe match with a compact 81. The win was their fifth of the season and took Sebastianites to second spot behind Panadura in the standings.

Former Sri Lanka off-spinner Ruwan Kalpage showed timely form taking a season's best 11 for 90 for NCC to push himself into the squad of 14 picked for next week's Test against India. Kalpage spun out BRC twice for totals of 116 and 181, after NCC had hit up an imposing 403 for 8 declared and rubbed it in (without enforcing the follow-on) by batting a second time and declaring at 213 for 3. This gave acting captain Russel Arnold the opportunity to celebrate his recall to the national team with an undefeated century - his third of the season. NCC's first innings was dominated by left-hander Naveed Nawaz who made 151, one run shy of equalling his career best score of 152 not out.

Another Sri Lanka cricketer who made an impact on his return from Australia was young Mahela Jayawardene. The 21-year-old right-hander compiled a classy unbeaten double century - 217 which improved on his club captain Hemantha Wickremaratne's season's best innings of 203 not out. With former Sri Lanka batsman Sanjeeva Ranatunga contributing a dogged 86, SSC set Colts a massive total of 440 to overhaul. Having finished the second day promisingly placed at 165 for 3, they collapsed to 305, with only Indika de Saram and Erik Upashantha each with identical scores of 63, and Chaminda Mendis (50), resisting the pace of Suresh Perera (4/73). In the SSC second innings, Avishka Gunawardana and Wickremaratne made a fifty apiece.

Thushara Sampath's century steered Singha SC to their fourth win of the season. Matara's total of 221 proved insufficient as Singha replied with 320. In the other match of the weekend, Kurunegala YCC did well to take first innings points off Galle CC at Galle. Kurunegala YCC defended a moderate total of 237 (H. Liyanage 90) very well, dismissing Galle for 207 with Wasantha Kumara taking four wickets. For Galle CC, Charinda Fernando took five wickets in the first innings and D. Sudarshana made 70.

Premier Championship Standings

The following are the Premier Championship standings at the completion of the seventh weekend of matches on February 14:

                                    Bonus Points
                P     WOR   W1st  LOR   L1st  ND    Btng    Bwlg   Pts
		   	 	      	    	   		 
Points          12    8                       .0005 0.1		 
		   	 	      	    	   		 
Panadura SC     7     2     3     0     1     1     15.425  10.0   73.425
Sebastianites   7     2     3     0     1     1     12.440  9.4    69.840
Moors SC        7     3     1     0     3     0     12.365  10.2   66.565
NCC             7     1     3     1     1     1     13.525  10.5   60.025
Bloomfield      7     1     3     1     1     1     11.825  10.4   58.225
SSC             7     0     4     1     2     0     14.585  11.3   57.885
CCC             7     0     4     1     1     1     11.225  11.1   54.325
Kurunegala YCC  7     1     3     1     1     1     9.510   8.5    54.010
Tamil Union     7     2     1     0     3     1     11.390  9.1    52.490
Singha SC       7     0     4     0     2     1     11.020  7.2    50.220
Galle CC        7     1     2     1     2     1     9.995   9.7    47.695
Colts           7     1     1     0     4     1     10.475  10.6   41.075
BRC             7     1     0     5     1     0     10.755  9.8    32.555
Antonian SC     7     1     0     2     3     1     11.740  8.2    31.940
Police SC       6     0     1     1     3     1     8.645   5.6    22.245
Matara SC       6     0     0     2     3     1     6.805   7.5    14.305

(Subject to confirmation)

Note: The match between Police SC and Matara SC scheduled from Jan. 22-24 was not played.

HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL INNINGS: 203 (n.o.) - Hemantha Wickremaratne, SSC v Tamil Union at Maitland Place on Jan. 10.

FASTEST CENTURY: 66 balls - Saman Jayantha, Singha SC v Panadura SC at Panadura on Jan. 31.

BEST INNINGS ANALYSIS: 8/47 - Priyankara Wickremasinghe, Bloomfield v Moors SC at Reid Avenue on Jan. 30.

BEST MATCH ANALYSIS: 11/90 - Ruwan Kalpage, NCC v BRC at Colts grounds, Havelock Park on Feb. 14.

HIGHEST INNINGS TOTAL: 485/4 decl. - Sebastianites v Antonian SC at De Soysa Stadium on Feb. 6.

LOWEST INNINGS TOTAL: 88 - Antonian SC v Galle CC at Galle Stadium on Jan. 17.