Meanwhile at the GMIS grounds, CeylonCC defeated ChallengersCC by 40 runs. Taking first strike upon winning the toss, Ceylon lost its first wicket rather quickly. In walked Dihan Silva who while scoring a swashbuckling 44 runs off 32 balls, aided a fine partnership of 73 runs with Nalakka to be 95/2 at 12 overs. The fall of Dihan’s wicket triggered the all too familiar middle order collapse of Ceylon who were reduced to 140/7 after 24 overs, before a fine cameo by Riaz Ur Rahman (43 runs off 37 balls) restored some respectability to the score, for Ceylon to be all-out for 178 runs. Ranjan, Santhosh and Manic chipped in with 2 wickets each.
Challengers, who got off to a reasonably good start (71/2 in 12 overs) started losing wickets in a hurry in the second session, to be all-out for 138 runs, well short of the target. Veteran Kesavadas, who had a very ordinary first spell returned to produce a magical spell that saw him take 4 wickets conceding just 2 runs off 2.3overs. Dihan Silva was his wily old self with his off-spinners taking 3/48, while also taking 2 outstanding catches in the outfield. Riaz Ur Rahman chipped in with the ball as well taking 2/18. Dihan was declared the man-of-the-match. For Challengers, Vimal Mohan scored 31 runs, While Sunil Samtani scored 23 runs.
Thanks to Suresh Subramanian & Jon Borrough from Fez Rebels for umpiring the game
