Croospulle dazzles as rain plays havoc with matches

Lahiru Samarakoon on the attack during his cameo knock of 66 off 43 balls for Dambulla

Lasith Croospulle of Kandy exults after reaching his century against Colombo

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Lasith Croospulle celebrated his inclusion in the Sri Lanka T20I squad for New Zealand by smashing a career best 167 off 133 balls for last year’s finalist Kandy as rain played havoc with the two matches of the National Super League 50-over tournament yesterday.

Croospulle played a dominant role in Kandy reaching a formidable total of 308-9 against Colombo at the Pallekele Cricket Stadium, striking 13 fours and five sixes before being seventh out at 287. No other batsmen scored more than 28 in the innings.

Croospulle starred in partnerships of 89 for the first wicket with Sandun Weerakkody (28) and 66 for the fourth wicket with Ahan Wickramasinghe (26). Rain washed out play before Colombo could commence their innings forcing a No Result.

Pace-setters Dambulla retained their unbeaten record and remained on top when they beat defending champions Jaffna by 76 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method with rain curtailing play at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium.

Dambulla tottering at 136-7 was given a life line by all-rounder Lahiru Samarakoon who played a cameo knock of 66 off 43 balls (4 fours, 4 sixes) to lift them to 233. Jaffna in reply were not too happily placed at 64-5 in 14 overs when rain interrupted play. Chasing a revised target of 226, Jaffna were restricted to 125-8 in 25 overs when bad light ended play.

Samarakoon was once again in the thick of things grabbing the wickets of Navod Paranavithana (11) and Janith Liyanage (2) for figures 2/26. Fast bowling all-rounder Ranitha Liyanarachchi took 2 for 10 and left-arm spinner Sonal Dinusha 2 for 30. Kasun Abeyratne was the only batsman to put up some resistance with 52 off 66 balls (7 fours).

RESULTS:

• At Pallekele: No Result.

Kandy 308-9 (50) (Lasith Croospulle 167, Sandun Weerakkody 28, Ahan Wickramasinghe 26, Dushan Vimukthi 3/34, Sachitha Jayathilaka 2/76, Danushka Sandaruwan 2/55) v Colombo.

• At Dambulla: Dambulla beat Jaffna 76 runs (D/L method)

Dambulla 233 (48.1) (Pavan Ratnayake 26, Ashan Priyanjan 24, Sonal Dinusha 20, Lahiru Samarakoon 66, Shiran Fernando 2/50, Jeffrey Vandersay 3/42, Ravindu Fernando 2/30)

Jaffna 125-8 (25) (Kasun Abeyratne 52, Lahiru Samarakoon 2/26, Sonal Dinusha 2/30, Ranitha Liyanarachchi 2/10)