Murali Goodness Cup Cricket Tournament
The Murali Goodness Cup Cricket Tournament took place from the 11th – 26th of November with the final being played on the 9th of December and was an opportunity for schoolboy cricketers to showcase their skills and broaden their experiences as a stepping stone towards playing higher level cricket.
The Murali Goodness Cup was preceded by the Murali Harmony Cup Tournament which was played at venues in Northern Sri Lanka bringing together 8 Ladies Teams and 16 Schoolboy teams from around the island from 2012 – 2016 and before that, the Murali Cup Tournament which took place in Seenigama in 2011 between three local and three overseas teams.
The focus of these different efforts have been to offer young up and coming cricketers in Sri Lanka a plethora of experiences that will help them develop their game and expand their capabilities through engaging in the tournaments to produce strong, capable and confident sportsmen from even the most rural regions of Sri Lanka.
Participating Teams:
The 50 over matches which were played with a red ball and official umpires and scorers took place at 4 venues;
Match Fixtures Saturday 11.11.2017 0930 am - Seenigama Surrey Oval – FOGA vs CWW Kannangara MV Sunday 12.11.2017 0930 am - Seenigama Surrey Oval – FOGA vs Asoka Kanishta Saturday 18.11.2017 0930 am - Seenigama Surrey Oval – FOGA vs MDH Jayawardena MV Sunday 19.11.2017 0930 am - Seenigama Surrey Oval – FOGA vs Dharmapala Kottawa Saturday 25.11.2017 0930 am - Seenigama Surrey Oval – FOGA vs Aust Asia Academy
Sunday 26.11.2017 0930 am - Seenigama Surrey Oval – Semi Final 1
Saturday 09.12.2017 : 0930 am - Hikkaduwa Sri Sumangala MCC Lords - Final
Due to heavy rain preceding the day of the final match resulting in a damp pitch, the game was reduced to 38 overs per side where the Foundation of Goodness Academy Team faced off against Dharmapala Vidyalaya Kottawa in the presence of Chief Guest, legendary bowler Mr. Muthiah Muralidaran himself.
Kottawa won the toss and asked FoG Academy to bat where the outstanding performance by Navindu Pahasara and Sadeera Weeraratne took apart the Kottawa bowlers. Sadeera smashed 82 runs in 52 balls, but Pahasara stole the show amassing 109 runs from 87 balls, and memorably hit seven consecutive sixes carrying his team to a total of 283 for 7 in 36 and victory was claimed by FoG Academy at the Inaugural Murali Goodness Cup.
Pahasara won the Man of the Match award for his hundred, while his teammate Navod Paranawithana won Man of the Series award for his 394 runs in the tournament, including two centuries. Semila Liyanage of Dharmapala Kottawa was awarded with Best Bowler of the Tournament, for his 14 wickets.
At the conclusion of the tournament, three cricket scholarships were presented to three players from MDH Jayawardena MV, CWW Kannangara MV and Asoka Kanishta in memory of Mr. Ranjan de Silva and furthermore cricket equipment was donated to Dharmapala Vidyalaya Kottawa, Asoka Kanista Vidyalaya Colombo, MDH Jayawardena MV and CWW Kannangara MV as part of the effort to develop school cricket.
A big thank you also goes to tournament sponsor Muthiah Muralidaran and his company Sunrich Biscuits.
21st December 2017 |
