CHAMINDU, KAMINDU, ASHAN GUIDE CCC TO TITLE VICTORY
CCC, led by Ashan Priyanjan, put in a gallant fightback in a high-scoring Major Club Cricket final to record a first-inning win over Tamil Union concluded at the SSC ground yesterday to clinch the title. The title win saw CCC retain it for the third successive year, with the first achieved in 2018 and the second in 2019, which was the last tournament played that came to a standstill due to the COVID pandemic. On all three occasions, the champion team was led by Priyanjan.
In reply to Tamil Union’s massive score of 558, CCC fought back and ended the third day’s play in a strong position of 411/5, needing a further 148 runs to gain a first-inning win, which was sufficient to clinch the title.
Overnight pair Chamindu Wijesinghe and skipper Priyanjan had little trouble amassing runs.
They continued the good work done by Kamindu Mendis, Minod Bhanuka, and Lasith Abeyratne, with the trio associating in two valuable partnerships.
Chamindu and Ashan featured in the best partnership of the innings as they tormented the Tamil Union bowlers and sent them on a leather hunt.
The pair succeeded in reaching their tons while helping CCC get closer to the target. The separation of the pair, with Chamindu making a top score of 139 after having associated in a valuable 219-run stand for the sixth wicket, followed by Ashan’s dismissal for 100, saw them needing just 14 runs to clinch the title.
Later, Pawan Ratnayake and Lakshan Sandakan further frustrated the Tamil Union bowlers as the pair put on 81 runs for the ninth wicket for CCC to end their innings with a mammoth score of 669 runs.
Tamil Union batting the second time, which was for academic interest, ended the final day’s play with a score of 145/4.