Evans scores first century and guides Colombo Kings to second spot

Laurie Evans of Colombo Kings, the first centurion of the My11Circle LPL, celebrates his hundred against Jaffna Stallions at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium yesterday

Englishman Laurie Evans scored the first century of the ongoing My11Circle Lanka Premier League (LPL) to guide Colombo Kings to a close six runs win over Jaffna Stallions in a round robin league

match played at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium yesterday.

Buoyed by Evans’ career best second T20 century – 108 not out off 65 balls, Colombo invited to bat first and reached a respectable 173-4 after being 63-2 at the halfway mark. Jaffna could respond with only 167-6.

Although the end result indicates a close game, it never really was because from the outset of the Jaffna run chase, Colombo had the game well under their control, not allowing it to get out of hand.

Spinners Qais Ahmed and Ashan Priyanjan and fast-bowling all-rounder Isuru Udana were brilliant as they put the skids under the Jaffna batting, containing their line up to the extent that with the asking rate rising to alarming proportions, they were forced to take chances.

In that context, Andre Russell – with his gentle medium pacers – prospered, picking up three wickets (including two big ones in one over Thisara Perera and Shoaib Malik), although he went for a princely 46 runs.

The loss was Jaffna’s third out of their last four games (one match ending in a no-result), and they became the first team to complete all their round robin league fixtures, finishing with nine points and third place in the standings.

Jaffna, of course, was not at full strength for yesterday’s fixture, having rested Sri Lankan players like Avishka Fernando and Dhananjaya de Silva for the semi-finals. Colombo came to this game on the back of an eight-wicket thrashing at the hands of Galle Gladiators, and initially never looked like putting up a decent total on the board as the top order struggled to get the ball off the square and boundaries became scarce.

But Evans, primarily a middle-order batsman but promoted to open in this tournament stuck it out in the middle to carry his bat out for a well-constructed knock that comprised five sixes and nine fours. How well he controlled the innings is proof that Colombo managed only 63 off the first 10 overs, but 110 off the last 10.

An experienced T20 campaigner having played all around the world with different franchises, the key to Evans’ batting was his ability to play all round the wicket risk free. Batting well inside his crease he found the elevation he needed to get underneath the ball and hoist it over the boundary. He was fortunate on a couple of occasions when he mishit and the ball fell in no-man’s land.

The key to Colombo’s total was Evans’ 84-runs partnership off seven overs with his captain Angelo Mathews (15) who has still to make a big impact in the tournament. That partnership enabled a hard hitter like Russell to come and swing his bat for a quick-fire 21 off 14 balls that saw Colombo to their final score – one which they quite successfully defended with the wide variety of bowlers they have in their line-up.  

With this win Colombo (10 points) moved to second spot behind Dambulla Viiking (11 points). The meeting between these two sides today will decide the top spot.

Man of the Match Evans said: “It was tricky to start with. They bowled quite well and we lost wickets. I just knew that towards the back end if I was still there, I could cash in. One of the challenges coming here is you face bowlers you never faced before and Wanindu (Hasaranga) got me in the first game with a googly, and I knew what to expect today and I was playing for it every ball and it paid off.”  

Colombo captain Mathews praised the effort of Evans and said: “Laurie batted brilliantly he assessed the conditions well. It was a little bit slow at the start but he assessed the conditions and took on the bowlers up to the 10th over, and after that it was easy for guys like us and Russ (Andre Russell) to go in their hammer.”

“We played really good cricket right throughout the tournament except for a couple of games. The two games we lost our attitude was not really there but today we turned up again with great attitude, and the bowlers responded to the 173 brilliantly,” said Mathews. (ST)

Scores

Colombo Kings 173-4 (20) (Laurie Evans 108 n.o., Andre Russell 21)

Jaffna Stallions 167-6 (20) (Tom Moores 23, Charith Asalanka 32, Shoaib Malik 29, Thisara Perera 22, Wanindu Hasaranga 23 n.o., Andre Russell 3/46)