Dambulla dismissed for 248 has Galle reeling at 26/4

Dambulla’s Abishek Liyanarachchi and Minod Bhanuka acknowledge their half-centuries

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Skipper Minod Bhanuka and opening bat Abishek Liyanarachchi scored a fifty apiece, but Dunith Wellalage with his left-arm spin took five wickets for Galle to dismiss Dambulla for 248 on the opening day of the National Super League 4-day final played at the Galle Cricket Stadium yesterday.

By stumps however the scales have been tipped somewhat with Galle losing four wickets for 26, two of them to Sri Lanka’s number one ranked T20I spinner Wanindu Hasaranga for 13 runs. Quite an interesting tussle is on the cards over the next three days of this contest with Galle trailing Dambulla by 222 runs with six first innings wickets in hand.

Invited to bat first Dambulla recovered from losing opener Sonal Dinusha for a duck in the third over through a second wicket partnership of 77 between Liyanarachchi and Pavan Ratnayake (31). Liyanarachchi went on to score a compact 54 off 75 balls (7 fours, 1 six) before Dambulla lost two quick wickets to be 88-3.

A further partnership of 78 between Sanoj Darshika (37) and Bhanuka took the score to 166 when Dambulla once again lost a cluster of wickets with Wellalage getting into the act by removing Darshika and Ashan Priyanjan (0). Bhanuka on whose shoulders weighed Dambulla’s chances of making a competitive total was unfortunately run out for 50 scored off 84 balls (8 fours). Following his dismissal there wasn’t much resistance from the rest of the batting as Wellalage swept through the late order and the tail to finish with figures of 5 for 58 off 17 overs.

When it came to Galle’s turn to bat, opening bowler Lahiru Samarakoon removed inform opener Sohan de Livera for seven in the third over before spinners Priyanjana and Hasaranga took over to wrought havoc amongst the Galle top order. Hasaranga sent back skipper Sangeeth Cooray (2) and Lakshan Edirisinghe (4) within the space of five runs. Priyanjan rounded off a fine day for Dambulla by cleaning up Wellalage for three.

The match continues on its second day today.

Scores: Dambulla 248 (Abishek Liyanarachchi 54, Pavan Ratnayake 31, Sanoj Darshika 37, Minod Bhanuka 50, Dushan Hemantha 27*, Kavishka Anjula 2/38, Dunith Wellalage 5/58)

Galle 26-4 at close (Wanindu Hasaranga 2/13)