MAS Unichela, John Keells qualify to play in final

MAS Unichela MCA Premier League champions look set to clinch the double when they qualified to the finals of the 21st Singer MCA Premier League knockout final with a comfortable six wicket win over Seylan Bank in the semi-final encounter played at De Zoysa Stadium in Moratuwa yesterday.

They will meet John Keells who entered the final with a 33 runs win on the Duckworth/Lewis system against HNB in the other semi-final played at P. Sara Stadium.

The match between Seylan Bank and MAS Unichela turned out to be a one sided affair with the former taking first lease of the wicket being bundled out for a paltry score of 98.

The spin trio Sohan Boralessa, T.M. Dilshan and Dilruwn Perera shared nine wickets between them. MAS Unichela in their run chase had little difficulty in achieving their mission as they needed just 9.4 overs to reach the target.

In contrast the other semi-final between John Keells and HNB was hampered by bad light with HNB chasing a modest target of 210 runs set by their opponents struggling for survival.

The match was called off at 4.15 p.m. due to bad light with HNB on 110 for 6 having faced 26 overs with the D/L target during stoppage being 143 runs. Earlier John Keells taking first lease of the wicket too underwent some anxious moments.

They were badly placed on 23 for 4 in the fifth over before Roshen Silva along with skipper Janaka Gunaratne, Akshu Fernando, Ishan Jayaratne and Upul Indrasiri came to their rescue making useful contributions helping them end their innings on a respectable score of 209,

(Chanaka Wijesinghe 27, Kanchana Gunawardena 20, Kaushalya Gajasinghe 15: Sohan Boralessa 4 for 17, T.M. Dilshan 3 for 19, Dilruwan Perera 2 for 15)

Ian Daniel 2 for 32)

(Kusal Perera 38:

(Roshen Silva 66, Akshu Fernando 38, Janaka Gunaratne 29, Ishan Jayaratne 22: Sujeewa de Silva 4 for 34, Sajeewa Weerakoon 2 for 38)

(Deshan Dias 20 n.o., Ranil Dhammika 20 n.o.: Upul Indrasiri 2 for 10, Shaminda Eranga 2 for 43)