Sheer Textbook Display of UOC Terminated The Hopes of UVA

In the first day of SLUG cricket quarterfinals, UVA took the challenge to one of the favourites, UOC at the Panadura Public Grounds. On a pleasant morning under a clear sky that promised a full day of cricket, both the teams eagerly set to take charge on the field with experienced senior players and promising new additions. UVA saw the better of SEUSL in their first round match while UOC got the walk over straight into the quarterfinals.

Captain of UVA M. H. S. Hussain won the toss and decided to take the first lease of the wicket. They had a shocking start to the proceedings as both the openers were removed within the first two overs with nothing to show on the runs column. Captain of UOC side A. G. C. S. Wijewardene and left arm fast bowler T. M. Sethunga purchased movement off the seam and kept the scoreboard silent in the early power play overs with an excellent spell of a disciplined bowling attack. At the end of first ten overs, UVA scored a devastating 26 for the loss of four wickets. M. J. J. Hassan and M. H. S. Hussain then built a steady partnership and managed to take the upper hand against the spinners of UOC with at least a boundary every over. The former cleared the fence twice in the over before the drinks break that shifted the momentum towards the batting side.

However, the captain of UOC picked a leaf out of his thinking hat and brought the pace bowlers back into the attack. The damage was inevitable as the next two overs witnessed the departure of both set batsmen to the dressing room for 33 and 20 respectively. Hope didn’t fade away for the spirited UVA side as the lower middle order batsman W. N. U. Perera scored a quick fire 34 and took the score past 100. The resistance didn’t last long and UVA was rotten all out for a mere 119 runs in the 30 th over. The influence of the opening bowling pair is commendable as they shared the first seven wickets of the innings between them.

The second innings began with immediate effect and the openers H. P. N. Kodithuwakku and T. M. De. S. Rajaratne had no hesitance to finish off the match before the lunch break. They got off to a dream start with boundaries flying all over the park. They made the pitch look totally different from the first innings and exhibited a flippant show to steal the match home. The former got out eventually but the new batsman K. U. D. V. Padmalal took the responsibility and guided the team towards the target. UVA was put under pressure by some excellent shot making and neat timing by the couple on the crease. UVA couldn’t hold onto half-the-chances which came their way and fell miserably in the tactical aspects. On the other hand, T. M. De. S. Rajaratne completed his well-deserved 50.

The score was 112/1 at the nominal lunch break time. Umpires and teams decided to play off the match as it was all over so early in the day for UVA. The winning runs were eventually hit in the 20 th over with 9 wickets in hand and UOC booked a place in the semifinal with tons of confidence in the camp eyeing the ultimate silverware. Talking to MoraSpirit, the UOC captain had this to say: “We are very happy with the win. We set our target very high so we wanted to win it. Our bowlers have done a pretty decent job. I’m happy with myself for the four wickets I got. Our spinners are fresh and adopting to the new power play rules. Our batsmen took the advantage of field restrictions. Our fielding needs to improve but we are doing well so far. We are looking forward to the semifinal.”

En route to final, UOC will face the winners of the third quarterfinal which is to be played on the 21st between WAY and KEL in the grounds of UOM. MoraSpirit takes pleasure in congratulating UOC for their success today and wishing them “good luck” in the semifinal.


By R. Arunothayan
 (MoraSpirit)

Zimbabwe celebrate record Test win against Bangladesh

Zimbabwe bowled a hapless Bangladesh out for 147 in their second innings to complete a massive 335-run victory in the first test at Harare Sports Club on Saturday.

The winning margin was Zimbabwe's biggest in terms of runs and almost double their previous best of 183 achieved against the same opposition and at the same venue in 2004.

A century in each innings from captain Brendan Taylor provided the platform for the win, a personal triumph for the skipper whose leadership had been questioned after the poor tour of West Indies earlier in the year.

Taylor posted his highest test score of 171 in the first innings and added another 102 not out in the second as Zimbabwe declared on 227 for seven early on Saturday morning and set Bangladesh 483 to win with almost two days to play.

The tourists never looked like chasing that down as they were bundled out for 147 after tea, with only Mohammad Ashraful's 40 offering any sort of resistance.

When he was needlessly run out the tail folded quickly with leg-spinner Graeme Cremer returning figures of four wickets for four runs. Kyle Jarvis was the pick of the Zimbabwe bowlers with match figures of seven for 115.

It was Zimbabwe's 10th test win from the 90 matches they have played since the country was handed test status in 1992 and brings to an end a run of five straight defeats.

"I couldn't be happier today, we showed a lot of character coming back from our pretty average performance in the West Indies," Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor said at the post-match presentation.

"We like playing at home and we understand the conditions pretty well. I think we were very professional in all three departments.

"They put us under a little bit of pressure up front with our second innings, but fortunately we held it together and put up a tough target for them to chase."

Bangladesh erred by not playing three seamers on a wicket with pace and bounce and have plenty to work on before the second test starting on Thursday.

"The wicket was very good for bowling, but you still have to bowl well and hold your catches and we didn't do that in their first innings and allowed them to get to 389," Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim said.

"When we were then bowled out for 134, it is very difficult to come back from that."

IPL 2013-11/04/2013

SLUG Cricket Schedule

UVA Clean up Their Path to The SLUG Cricket Title

SEA 125/ 10 in 42.4 overs (2.94 runs per over)
R.M.S Shantha - 27
D.R.P Nandasena – 17

N.H Ariyarathne (9.0-1-19-3)
Y.M Azrath (7.0-2-12-2)
W.M Perera (8.0-2-17-2)

UWU 128/6 in 44.2 overs (2.88 runs per over)
S.H.M Hifly – 32
Sajith Hussain – 24

T.L.N Fernando – (6.0-1-23-3)
A.D.A Pathum – (9.0-3-13-1)

Even before the Red Bull Campus Cricket excitement is going down, SLUG (Sri Lanka University Games) cricket season is started today. Starting the tournament six teams get in to the battle at three places. South Eastern University (SEA) and University of Uva Wellassa (UVA) fought at the University of Moratuwa ground. UVA was able to mark their victory by 4 wickets. SEA won the toss and elected to bat first. They were all out for 125 runs in 42.4 overs. UVA chased down the score within 44.2 overs and they hit the target by a wonderful big hit.
Skipper of SEA might decide to bat first because the Mora ground is suitable for batting. However the  SEA batsmen didn’t took the advantage because the overall run rate didn’t go beyond 2.94 runs per over. U.R.G.G Ranasighe and V. Thrichchellam opened batting for SEA, but they were not able to fulfill their duty because none of them was able to score more than 10. UVA had a disciplined bowling crew and made some good saves. Big hits were not seen from SEA. Ranasinghe was returned to the pavilion by W.M.V Perera for 10 runs while Thrichchellam was out by Y.M Asath for only 7 runs. SEA No.3 batsman, P.S Kumara had to leave the ground without scoring any run. A.D.A Pathum tried to add some colors to the match by clearing the boundary rope, but UVA bowlers didn’t let him to be successful and was out for 11 runs. Then R.M.S Shantha got together with   R. Subashchndra and added live to the SEA team. Shantha was able to have the highest score of the inning which was 27. D.R.P Nandasena came to the fight as the 7th fighter, added 17runs to the score board. He was escaped by N.L Ariyarathne of SEA team by missing an easy catch. Even in the Power Play SEA batsmen had to be satisfied with ones and twos because UVA bowlers had dominated the field. Even though they tend to go for big shots they were not succeeded. Ariyarathne bowled a wonderful over in 40th over. He bagged two wickets while no runs were given away.  Again Ariyarathne came to action and took the 9th wicket of the inning in 42th over. The score board was 125 marks. Then came the last wicket of the SEA team, T.N.L Fernando. He also had to leave the ground for no marks. Therefore at the end of 42.4 overs SEA was all out for 125 runs.
Having an achievable target of 125 runs in 50 overs UVA got into the ground in the afternoon. In this inning also the two opening batsmen were not successful. Rangane De Silva had to walk out of the ground for 05 runs. Making things worse for UVA lost their 2nd batsman in the lineup N.H.N.L Ariyarathne just for 3 runs. Then K.A.R.L Ariyasena got to gather with S.H.M Hifly tried to increase the run rate which was 1.85 runs per over in 20 overs. Ariyasena added 23 runs to the score board with one boundary. Meanwhile SEA’s fielding was good enough to cut 2s into 1s. In the 24th over Ariyasena was easily caught. Then M.H.S Hussain came and he used gaps to sneak the boundary rope. While he was scoring 24 runs, Shifly also in the other end increased the score. Shifly was the highest scorer in the inning as well as in the match. He scored 32 runs. These two took their team along way to the victory. Shifly was caught by T.N.L Fernando who was the best bowler in the inning and Hussian was caught by M.S.C Mapatuna. 6th batsman W.M.U Perera was also bowled out for 5 runs. J Husan gathered speedy 15 runs and he was the lucky man to hit the big shot of 4 which marked the victory for UVA.
UVA will meet Colombo at quarterfinals on 19th Friday.

-Sandareka Wickramanayake
http://moraspirit.com