Sri Lanka Air Force Cricket clinched a decisive win against the Anthonians’ Sports Club, Wattala at the 1st round match of the Premier League Cricket Championship held at Rifle Green, Colombo from 4 – 6 March, 2011.

The first innings saw Air Force put up a competitive score of 259 in 64.3 overs with Dinusha Fernando batting an impressive 119 runs.

Chathura Randima of St Anthony’s Sports Club took 4 wickets for 80 runs while Safras Farook took 3/78. When it came to their turn to bat, the Anthonians reached 274 in 72.5 overs, with Ruwantha Nonis and Dinesh Nilanga leading the scoreboard with 72 and 55 runs respectively. SLAF bowling attack was invincible with Ravi Jayawardena picking up 4/73 and Buddhika Sandaruwan 3/49.

Air Force batsmen made a remarkable comeback in the second innings with 264/4 declared in 50 overs. Two splendid centuries by Dinusha Fernando (117) and Raju Ganeshan (109) worked in favour of the Air Force to fight their opponents with confidence.

Chasing a target of 248 the Anthonians were backed by an impressive 72 runs by Darshana Hettiarachchi and 64 runs by Safras Farook but failed to reach the winning score by an extremely narrow margin of 3 runs. Brilliant bowling figures by Buddhika Sandaruwan (4/68) and Ravi Jayawardena (4/85) achieved a decisive win for the lads from Air Force.