Imperial College encounter Central Campus Colombo in today’s final
Imperial beat Esoft in the second semi-final - Pic by M.A. Pushpakumara
Imperial College and Central Campus Colombo (CCC) will clash in the finals of the Red Bull Campus Cricket 2021 to be played at the BRC grounds in Colombo today.
In the first semi-final CCC beat SLIM by 8 wickets while Imperial easily romped to victory with a 5-wicket win against Esoft in the second semi-final. The two victorious sides became the best out of the lot of 12 teams that competed in the four-day tournament, which will culminate with the grand finale.
Electing to field, CCC restricted SLIM to 124 for the loss of 9 wickets and chased down the target only losing two of their batsmen and with 14 deliveries to spare as Chamindu Wijesinghe stood out with his allround performance for the winners. He claimed four important wickets and returned with an unbeaten knock of 36 to make an important contribution to his team’s win.
Kanishka Uggalpaya top scored for SLIM but the performance of CCC bowlers Wijesinghe and Nipun Malinga stole the limelight from him. Uggalpaya made 51, but Wijesinghe and Malinga were more effective in their task to claim four scalps each and limit SLIM to 124/9.
In their run-chase, CCC lost couple of early wickets but Heshan Dhanushka and Wijesinghe ensured their team reach the victory post without losing further wickets. Dhanushka remained unbeaten on 55, becoming the top scorer of the game, while Wijesinghe’s 36 not out was as important as his partner’s.
In the second qualifier Imperial recorded a comfortable victory against Esoft, who were totally outplayed by their opponents in all departments largely due to an allround contribution from Pawantha Weerasinghe.
Esoft could not live up to their expectations after deciding to bat first, as they were bowled out for 139 with a delivery remaining in their innings. Raminda Wijesuriya and Kavindu Irosh made identical scores of 31, as the latter remained unbeaten while Weerasinghe and Ayesh Harshana grabbed three wickets each.
Imperial lost five wickets on their way to victory, which was achieved with 25 deliveries to spare. Sajith Priyal top scored for the winners with 53 runs and Weerasinghe’s contribution with the bat was 32. Neranjan Wanniarachchi claimed two wickets for Esoft.
Bringing together talented players from around the country, this year’s local leg had 12 college-level teams participating, namely — Central Campus Colombo, Kotelawala Defense University, ESOFT, Royal Institute of Colombo, Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, Imperial College, Sri Lanka Institute of Management, SAEGIS, ICON Business School, Sri Lanka Technological Campus, ACBT and ICBT Campus.
The World Finals of Red Bull Campus Cricket 2021 will be held in Oman, later this year, where the Sri Lankan team who emerges as the local winner will gain the opportunity to represent the country on a coveted, international field.
Results
- Semi-final 1: CCC beat SLIM by 8 wickets
SLIM 124/9 (20) (Kanishka Uggalpaya 51, Chamindu Wijesinghe 4/22, Nipun Malinga 4/34)
CCC 127/2 (17.4) (Heshan Dhanushka 55n.o., Chamindu Wijesinghe 36n.o., Deshan Fernando 1/17)
- Semi-final 2: Imperial beat Esoft by 5 wickets
Esoft 139 all out (19.5) (Raminda Wijesooriya 31, Kavindu Irosh 31n.o., Pawantha Weerasinghe 3/13, Ayesh Harshana 3/15)
Imperial 145/5 (14.5) (Sajith Priyal 53, Pawantha Weerasinghe 32, Neranjana Wanniarachchi 2/22)