Team-work was the key to SSC’s success

Chris Dhambarage

Team work was the key word to SSC’s success in the Sri Lanka Cricket organized Premier Division One limited overs tournament concluded recently.

They had a pretty ordinary start to their campaign but ended up as a champion outfit while defeating Moors Sports Club in the final encounter.

SSC never looked the team that would have even made it to the semifinals considering their track record at the beginning of the tournament where they suffered three consecutive defeats at the hands of Baduraliya CC, Chilaw Marians SC and Moors SC.

They also struggled to beat Ragama CC in a low scoring opening encounter and the future did not look all that bright for the Maitland Place club. But thereafter they began to believe in themselves and soon came into their own during the latter stages of the tournament.

The team showed a lot of character on the field with the senior players leading from the front. But more importantly each player realized his responsibilities and that certainly helped skipper Avishka Gunawardena and coach Naveed Nawaz to complete their task more effectively.

In fact for their coach Naveed Navaz this was a new experience having taken over the duties recently. The former D. S. Senanayake College cricketer had of course guided SSC to win the Sri Lanka Cricket organized under 23 title earlier.

But the Premier division one tournament was a complete challenge indeed with most of the clubs giving their best shot in their attempt to draw first blood for the new season. However more than any other team SSC had the ingredients of success with them and also had the courage and the determination to last the full distance of the tournament.

SSC of course came into the recognition mid way in the competition and the game against Colts CC was probably the turning point from where they went from strength to strength. It was during this game that they actually realized their potential and believed that they could make a huge impact in the rest of the matches.

The absence of two of their key bowlers Nuwan Zoysa and Shalika Karunanayake certainly put them on the defensive to a great extent at the start of the tournament. In addition the other reason for their poor start was because most of their new recruits took some time to settle down.

But once the players combined and began to produce the results they looked absolutely unbeatable and the margin that they won the last six games clearly proved that they are a genuine champion outfit.

No team of course remained unbeaten in this tournament but still SSC were able to hold their own when it really mattered. They had the better of Tamil Union by 26 runs, Colts CC by nine wickets, Bloomfield by ten wickets, NCC by eight wickets, CCC by eight wickets and Colts CC by 23 runs in the semifinals.

The other major factor in their success was that they were the only team not to have conceded a bonus point to their opponents. This is a clear indication of their competitiveness and their ability to fight until the end even during a worse situation of a match.

The SSC bowling attack revolved around Nuwan Zoysa, Shalika Karunanayake, Thilina Thushara, Sachithra Senanayake and Kaushal Lokuarachchi. In fact the all round contributions made by the former Sri Lanka opening bowler Nuwan Zoysa was quite outstanding as he went on to win the man of the match award in the final.

In addition paceman Shalika Karunanayake was the find of the tournament as he came out with some real matchwinning performances where he captured 14 wickets from the seven outings.

Nuwan Zoysa and Thilina Thushara of course had 19 wickets each but the former performed this feat from just eight outings. He also made some valuable contributions with the bat and his knock in the final was exceptional.

The spinners Kaushal Lokuarachchi and Sachithra Senanayake also performed their task quite admirably while sharing 22 wickets between them. SSC also had the guidance of Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena whose presence in the important final made a huge impact as a leader.