SERENDIB CRICKET

A below par performance in the field almost cost them the friendly 30 over game against Shizuoka C.C, but Dhanuka Samaranayaka managed to sneak one through the gate in the final over to give Serendib C.C a 1 run victory.

The day began with Serendib C.C. captain Buddhika Samarakoon winning the toss as he usually does, and electing to bat under the warm Shizuoka sun. The usual tail enders Amilendra Kodithuwakku and Arosha Perera were promoted as the opening pair, with the intention of giving them some batting practice, and if possible to end Amilendra's not out streak, whose bragging has been a recent nuisance to his fellow teammates. The Shizuoka opening bowlers Abbas and Sukitha maintained a good wicket to wicket line during the first five overs and Amilendra, who had got off his mark with a risky single which nearly ran out Arosh, gave a simple catch to midoff in the 5th over to give Abbas his first wicket. Jayathura Samarakoon joined Arosh, and Sukitha, who had being maintaining a good line until then, gave 10 wides in the next over to prop up Serendib's run rate. Arosh was bowled by Abbas in the 7th over. The usually dependable Dhanuka Smaranayaka came in next, but gave a tame catch in his 2nd ball off new bowler Dhana and was out for nought. The hard hitting Amesh was sent in next under clear instructions to accellerate the run rate, and he and Jayathura managed to score boundaries at will, bringing the score to 64 by the 12th over when Jayathura was out bowled by Mevan for a valuable 26 in just 31 balls. Captain Buddhika Samarakoon joined Amesh and the pair continued scoring quickly. Amesh was out L.B.W. by Lalith when the score was on 92 in the 17th over. The talented Shiron Rathnasekara who hadn't made many runs recently came in next. Although captain Buddhika was out not long after that for a well made 14, Shiron made amends to his previous low scores with a masterclass 30 from that many balls. Duminda Wickremasingha also gave good support to Shiron by making 23 runs. Even after Duminda fell to Lakmal for 23, Serendib was well set in making above 170 when Shizuoka captain Neil Harrison brought himself for the final overs. The Serendib batsmen, used to facing fast bowlers, found it difficult to judge Neil's slow loopy deliveries. In two overs Neil claimed Shiron caught for 30, Tharaka hit wicket for 4 and Sachintha bowled for 2, and Serendib were out for 159 in 28.4 overs.

Scoring at a run rate above 5 per over was going to be very difficult for the Kytes considering the recent form of the Serendib bowlers. The left arm fast bowler Iroshana and Shiron opened the attack for Serendib. Although the opener Wasantha was cleverly run out for 7 by Dhanuka's direct hit, the new batsman Suresh and the other opener Uditha took up the score to 30. Shiron produced a jaffa of a deliver to bowl Suresh for 3, and almost immediately Duminda claimed the wicket of Abbas for nought. Then Uditha was runout for 23 and Lalith was run out for 0 putting the Kytes in a bit of a bother at 50 for 5. Lakmal and Sukitha took the score to the eighties, when Dhanuka trying out his leg spin talents clean bowled Lakmal. Kytes captain Neil joined Sukitha with the intention of building up a partnership and salvaging some pride for Kytes. Sukitha played the aggressive role in that partnership making a beautiful 34 before being out L.B.W to Arosh. Sukitha took a special liking to Dhanuka's leg spin deliveries, and anything pitching on leg stump was severely punished. Mewan the next batsman in, faced only 2 deliveries when the muscle strain sustained while fielding forced him to retire hurt. Neil, who had been playing second fiddle to Sukitha, then took charge and farmed the strike with Shoaib and Dhana to take the game into the final over with just 6 needed and only Dhana left for a companion. Dhanuka who had been bowling lollies until then was given the final over, and thankfully for Serendib decided to bowl his usual fast deliveries. Neil scored a boundary at the first ball, and took a single to take them just 1 run behind Serendib. However Dhanuka managed to clean bowl Dhana giving Serendib a 1 run victory. Neil although unfortunate to end up in the losing side, was the top scorer with 47 not out.

Thus ended Serendib's last game in Shizuoka this season. If weather permits they will play either the Edogawa Falcons or Lalazar, their nemesis in the two previous semifinals, at the J.G.C tournament final to be played in Edogawa in two weeks time. ※

※Note by the editor.
According to the latest news received, the semifinal and final have been postponed due to bad weather. Therefore considering the incoming winter, the remaining matches of the 2009 season will be held at the start of the 2010 season which will be somewhere around March 2010.

A collective strong performance by the Serendib bowling unit laid the platform for a 3 wicket victory against the Indian Tigers in the first semifinal of the J.G.C T20 Cup 2009 played on the 8th of November 2009. This victory broke Serendib's semifinal hoodoo which had them lose two previous semifinals this season.

Serendib were put to field first, on a slightly wet outfield due to the heavy morning dew, after losing the toss. Serendib's captain Buddhika Samarakoon placed his trust in Amilendra Kodithuwakku to open the attack, and Amilendra repaid his captain's faith by producing a spell of perfect line and length, and in the process also claimed the first wicket to fall in the Indian Tiger's lineup. Buddhika's tactic in using Amesh Weerasinghe's cutters at the start of the game also paid off with Amesh getting 2 valuable wickets. Asanka Pallegedara Iroshan Goshan too chipped in with 2 wickets each and Shiron Ratnasekara took one wicket. Poor running between the wickets cost the Indian Engineers the rest of the wickets to fall, and they were all out for a mere 70 runs in just 14 overs. That Serendib didn't even have to call on their main strike bowler Dhanuka Samaranayake speaks volumes about how strongly the rest of the bowling unit performed.

Knowing that it was their game to lose, Serendib's openers Tharaka Pathberiya and Sachintha Gurudeniya batted positively, but Sachintha was given out L.B.W rather unfortunately in the second over when the score was on 7. Tharaka was then joined by Serendib's in-form batsman Dhanuka Samaranayake, and the pair took apart the Indian Tigers bowling attack in ruthless fashion. Dhanuka especially was in his usual flamboyant self, striking 2 back to back boundaries. Seeing that his fast bowlers were not troubling any of the batsmen, the Indian Tiger's captain decided to give his slow bowlers a chance and tossed the ball to Pramod. Pramod obliged by clean bowling Dhanuka for 21 when the score was on 43. N.P. Chandrasiri was the next batsmen, and he was clearly under orders from his captain to hold up one end, while the other batsmen finished the job from the other end. However Pramod produced a fine display of slow bowling, relying on line and length rather than pace, to pick up the wickets of Tharaka for 11 and star batsman Shiron Ratnasekara for nought. Captain Buddhika made a quickfire 12 before he too was bowled by Pramod. Chandrasiri who made a sedate 1 out of 18 balls, was bowled by Udaya, and the new batsman Iroshana Goshan holed out to deep mid wicket to bring Serendib's score down to 63 for 7 and gave Pramod his 5th wicket of the match. With only 3 wickets more to go, the new pair on the crease, Asankha Pallegedara and Amilendra Kodithuwakku may have been under some pressure, but it didn't show as they reduced the deficit by taking well judged singles. Amilendra continuing his streak of not outs, took a risky double to reduce the deficit to 1 and Asankha took a single to tie the scores in the next over. Amilendra hit the winning boundary over long on to give Serendib a well deserved place in the final, and they will play the winners of the 2nd semifinal against Lalazar and Edogawa Falcons, which is scheduled for the 15th of November 2009.