North Central Province take firm control

Central Province 6 for 3 trail North Central Province 314 by 308 runs
Scorecard

Central Province made a nightmare start just before the close in reply to North Central Province's 314: they lost three wickets for six runs on the first day at the P.Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo. Nandika Ranjith took two wickets, and Omesh Wijesiriwardene picked up the other to leave Central with much work to do as they head into the second day.

All of North Central's top order made decent starts, but their real stars were the middle order batsmen Jeevantha Kulatunga (93) and Janaka Gunaratne. The rest of the tail fell away, but it didn't matter as North Central posted 314 and soon had Central in trouble.

Western Province 120 for 5 trail Southern Province 134 by 14 runs
Scorecard

Western Province blew Southern Province away for 134, then rattled up 120 for 5 before the close of play to leave them in a strong position on the end of the first day at Khettarama, Colombo. They now trail by just 14 runs with five wickets heading into the second day of four.

Thilan Thushara was the star bowler for Western, taking 4 for 46, with only Harsha Vithana (46) offering any resistance for Southern before he fell victim to Thushara's left-arm pace. In their reply, Ian Daniel struck a solid 40 to lift Western to a firm position by the close.