Third title for LB Finance
LB Finance ‘B’ led by Lakshan Rodrigo bagged their third title in the MCA 2014 season when they scored a 55-run win over John Keells Group ‘B’ in the inaugural MCA Tier ‘B’ T20 Super Tournament final at the MCA Grounds last Sunday.
Earlier on, LBF ‘B’ won the MCA Division ‘G’ and finished as Runners-up in the MCA Open Sixes Tier ‘B’ segment.
In this Bharti Airtel sponsored tournament LB Finance ‘B’ and John Keells ‘B’ qualified for the Finals beating Commercial Leasing Co. by 73 runs and People’s Leasing and Finance by nine wickets at the MCA Grounds last Saturday..
The LB Finance ‘B’ win was firstly spearheaded by the splendid 130 runs stand in 75 balls between opener Sadeera Samarawickrama (84 in 50 balls inclusive of three sixes and eleven fours) and No. 4 batsman, Banuka Ranasinghe (55 in 37 balls inclusive of two sixes and seven fours) and then by the leg-spin bowling of Saman Dissanayake mesmerizing the John Keells batsmen to capture three wickets for twenty four runs in his allotted four overs.
John Keells ‘B’ chasing a victory target of 205 runs in 20 overs (RPO 10:25) started off well scoring 50 runs in the first five overs, but once they lost their key batsmen, A. Johar, Janudika Sriyapala and the centurion, Samith Fernando (all to Saman Dissanayake) the writing was on the wall, eventually folding up for 149 in 18.1 overs.
Match Referee, A.J. Samarasekara picked Saman Dissanayake from LBF ‘B’ as his man-of-the-match.
The other special awards went to Saman Dissanayake from LBF ‘B’ (best bowler); Samith Fernando from J. Keells ‘B’ – (best batsman) and Lakshan Rodrigo from LBF ‘B’ (man-of-the tournament).
At the post tournament awards which followed, the presenters were, Shirintha Perera, Head of Service Experience, Bharti Airtel Lanka Ltd., who was the Chief Guest, Gamini Wickramasinghe, Senior Vice President, Mahesh de Alwis, Chairman, Tournament Committee and Sanjaya Wijesinghe, Senior Member, Tournament Committee gave away the awards.
| Chief Scores
LB Finance ‘B’ 204 for 6 (20) (Sadeera Samarawickrama 84, Lakshan Rodrigo 17, Banuka Ranasinghe 55, Charith Fernando 17n.o, Charith Perera 3/22) |