Dialog meets HNB in Mercantile cricket final

Hatton National Bank ‘B’ (HNB) skippered by veteran Damitha Hunukumbura will go out as favourites when they take on Dialog Axiata led by Damith Weerasinghe, in the sixth FairFirst Insurance sponsored Mercantile Cricket Association ‘F’ Division 25 Over final on Saturday at MCA Grounds. Both teams are unbeaten in the competition.

HNB ‘B’ reached the finals having beaten Union Bank, Hilton Colombo Residencies,  EB Creasey, Atire, Emerchemie NB and Empire Tea, in the group stage.

In the knockout stage, they beat Camera LK in the pre-quarter-finals and Seylan Bank in the quarter-finals. They met Ansell Lanka in the semi-final and secured a closely fought 21 run win.

Dinesh Panditharatne has been holding the HNB ‘B’ side together having posted 438 runs in nine innings with a hundred and three half-centuries. He has been well backed up by Kaveen S. Bandara and Damitha Hunukumbura.

HNB ‘B’

Several all-rounders have come up with impressive performances for HNB ‘B’. While Achintha S. Akalanka scored 150 runs and picked up 17 wickets, Dellon Peiris managed 99 runs and ten wickets. Madushan  Pathirage also has ten wickets and 135 runs to show.

Dialog Axiata excelled beating Softlogic Life, Asiri Hospitals, Ansell Lanka, IPD Colombo, Standard Chartered Bank and CW Mackie. At the knockout stage, they overcame Commercial Bank ‘B’, MAS Active and Maliban Biscuits ‘B’.

The top performers for Dialog have been Dilan Harshana Bandara, who scored 462 runs in nine innings with a hundred and three half-centuries.Rajitha Ranatunga has managed 278 runs in eight innings while Damith Weerasinghe has excelled with the bat and ball scoring 244 runs and taking 13 wickets.