Colombo Cricket Club (CCC) emerged Premier league Inter-Club Tier ‘A’ champions for the second consecutive year and they attribute it to their fine team effort throughout the tournament.
“Winning the championship for the second consecutive year is not an easy task but my players did it in great style with confidence,” said head coach Tharanga Dhammika.
“All worked hard to achieve this success and credit should to all the players, my support staff and officials for their commitment towards working this goal,” added the jubilant coach Dhammika who is a former Nalanda College skipper and pace bowler.
The history of CCC is that they have won the league championship on six occasions. They first won in 1978/80 under the leadership of Michael Tissera the former captain of the national team. Then in 1984/85 under Roger Wijesuriya, in 1987/88 under Owen Mottau, in 2006/7 under Nishitha Rupasinghe and last season 2018/19 under Ashan Priyanjana.
Their greatest season was this year when they won a Double winning the T/20 and the Premier League Championships. Last season they finished as runners-up in the T/20 tournament.
“We can guide the players but it is up to them to perform in the middle with responsibility. We had regular practices and always worked hard at it,” said Dhammika.
CCC were fortunate to have four talented under-19 players who were exposed to the top league. This was to fill the void left when their senior players were on national duty. Pawan Ratnayake, Sonal Dinusha, Kavidu Nadeeshan and Bhawantha Weerasinghe are the young cricketers from Mahanama College who made useful contributions to CCC and now they will be able to play in the under-23 tournament.
Skipper Kusal Mendis, Wanidu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandaken and Vishwa Fernando were involved with the National team and missed some of the matches while Ashan Priyanjana, Minod
Bhanuka, Lahiru Madushanka and Malinda Pushpakumara also had to skip a few matches to be with the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team and yet CCC were able to bag the top prize in domestic cricket in the country under the guidance of coach Tharanga Dhammika.