Domestic Cricket Results
Star Garments Group (Pvt.) Ltd, Katunayake snatched a dramatic last ball win over Sri Lankan Airlines, in the final of the 04 th Maliban Biscuit Manufactories Limited sponsored, “Maliban Smart Cream Cracker” Trophy – MCA Masters Cricket Sixes 2023. concluded at the MCA grounds on Sunday, 23 rd July.
10 teams in three (03) groups, in two stages consisting a total of 15 matches were played simultaneously at the MCA and DS Senanayake College grounds.
In the final, Star Garments, forty seven (47) year old captain Asitha Palihakkara grabbed two wickets in his over and out Sri Lankan Airlines in a turbulence: Sri Lankan Airlines, forty (43) year old captain, Nalaka De Zoysa steadied the flight by top scoring an unbeaten 25 runs, to finish 48 for 3 in five overs.
Sri Lankan Airlines fought back tooth and nail with two tight overs bowled by Nisantha Mendis and Malinda Fennando to restrict Star Garments to 39 for 3 in 04 overs.
Star garments needed 10 runs in the last over, bowled by DA Chamara and two runs in the last ball: when Star Garments batsmen at the wickets were running for the second and winning run, a missed field occurred which gave them the win.
Match Result in brief At MCA Grounds / 06 matches
HNB 90/1 (5) beat Colombo Dockyard 28/4 (5); DPGC 64/4 (5) beat Commercial Bank 59/1 (5); Sampath Bank 91/1 (5) beat Colombo Dockyard 33/3 (5); Sri Lankan Airlines 80/0 (5) beat DPGC 30/5 (5); Sampath Bank 54/3 (5) lost to HNB 61/0 (5) ; Sri Lankan Airlines 68/0 (5) beat Commercial Bank 52/2 (5)
At DSS Grounds / 06 matches
Sri Lanka Telecom 57/1 (5) lost to Hayleys Group 58/1 (2.5) ; Star Garments 59/1 (5) beat Singer Sri Lanka: Hayleys Group 71 /2 (5) beat Singer Sri Lanka 46/3 (5) ; Star Garments 61/4 (5) beat Sri Lanka Telecom 49/4 (5); Singer Sri Lanka 61/3 (5) lost to Sri Lanka Telecom 62/1 (4.5) ; Star Garments 48/5 (5) lost to Hayleys Group 49/1 (2.5)
At the completion of the league stage, HNB from Group “A” , Sri Lankan Airlines from Group “B” & Hayleys Group & Star Garments from Group “C” advanced to Semi Finals.
Semi Finals : HNB 51/3 (5) lost to Star Garments 53/1 (4.0) ; Sri Lankan Airlines 66/3 (5) beat Hayleys Group 65/5 (5).
Final : Sri Lankan Airlines – 48/3 (5) (Nalaka de Zoysa 25 not out, Asitha Palihakkara 2/3 ) lost to Star Garments 49/3 (5) ( Asitha Palihakkara 13 retired hurt, D. Madusanka 10, Malinda Fernando 1/6, DA Chamara 1/10)
Special Awards :
Best Bowler – Manjula Sampath / Star Garments
Best Batsman – Anil Karunaratne / Star Garments
Most Sixes in the tournament – Hasantha Fernando, Sampath Bank
Most Senior Player – Neil De Silva / Commercial Bank (58 years)
Man of the Final – Asitha Palihakkara / Star Garments
Chief Guest, Group HR & Admin Manager, Rohana Wijesuriya & Dep.
Manager HR & Admin, DAG Dhanushika (both from Maliban Biscuits
Manufactories Ltd) along with MCA Executive Committee Member &
Chairman Information & Digital Committee Hasitha Dasanayake gave away the awards