Dambulla finally get campaign off the ground with win 

Reeza Hendricks scored 54 in opening stand of 154 with Kusal Perera for Dambulla Sixers    

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Dambulla Sixers finally ended their losing streak of three matches with an eight-wicket hammering of Colombo Strikers in the second double-header played at the Rangiri Dambulla Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Openers Reeza Hendricks and Kusal Perera made a mockery of the target of 186 set by Colombo when they posted 154 off 88 balls. Left-hander Perera continued his great form and put away anything loose reaching the boundary on eight occasions and four over it scoring 80 off 50 balls. The South African on the other hand complimented him with 54 off 39 balls (4 fours, 3 sixes) and once they raced off to a good start, Colombo found it tough to contain them.

Taskin Ahmed, who had a poor day, dismissed them both in one over, but the in-form Mark Chapman struck three sixes in one Matheesha Pathirana over to finish it off with 13 balls to spare. 

This big win boosted Dambulla's run-rate and they leapfrogged Kandy to move out of the last spot on the points table. It was poor bowling by Colombo that saw them miss out the opportunity to draw level on points with the two front runners Jaffna and Galle. 

Useful contributions from Rahmanullah Gurbaz (36 off 28 balls, 4 fours, 1 six), Angelo Perera (41 off 27, 6 fours, 1 six), Glenn Phillips (52 off 36 balls, 1 four, 3 sixes), and Chamika Karunaratne (27* off 12 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) gave Colombo a good score of 185-6. 

The opening stand between Gurbaz and Perera was worth 73 off 51 balls as both batters attacked the bowlers from the inception. After that, Phillips showed his power as he feasted on poor bowling to clout sixes en route to a 50, his second in the tournament. 

Karunaratne too helped out with a good cameo towards the end. Mustafizur Rahman and Nuwan Pradeep were taken for plenty even though the last over from Pradeep produced only seven runs and a wicket. The pick of the bowlers was the skipper Mohammad Nabi who finished with 2/20. The fielding from Dambulla left much to be desired.

Scores: 

Colombo Strikers 185-6 (20) (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 36, Angelo Perera 41, Glenn Phillips 52, Chamika Karunaratne 27*, Nuwan Pradeep 2/41, Mohammad Nabi 2/20)

Dambulla Sixers 188-2 (17.5) (Reeza Hendricks 54, Kusal Perera 80, Mark Chapman 23*, Taskin Ahmed 2/45)