Final week of matches commences today

The National Super League 4-day tournament resumes today after a break for the Sinhala and Tamil New Year with two matches that will bring an end to the league round.

With the finalists already decided – Galle and Kandy, today’s matches will be of less significance other than to avoid finishing at the bottom of the league standings.

Currently, Jaffna are at the bottom with 50.070 points, but they are not too far away from the two teams above them Dambulla (58.250) and Colombo (52.450) who occupy third and fourth places respectively.

Jaffna have a chance of avoiding the ignominy of finishing last if they can beat Dambulla at the Pallekele Cricket Stadium in their match commencing today. In the first round of the league when they met, Dambulla had the better of exchanges piling up a massive 619-8 declared and dismissing Jaffna for 366 to take first innings points.

Jaffna have national Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva to lead them following his excellent run with the bat in the two-Test series in Bangladesh along with another Test player Nishan Madushka who figured prominently in the series. They also have Ron Chandraguptha and Nipun Karunanayake both of whom have made centuries in the tournament, Janith Liyanage who has crossed the fifty-run mark on four occasions in five innings, and the all-round skills of Lahiru Madushanka (343 runs and 14 wickets). If at all Jaffna could be faltered it is in their bowling department which lacks penetration. Spinners Ravindu Fernando and Shashika Dulshan who are Jaffna’s leading wicket-takers with 18 apiece have proved pretty expensive averaging 50 per wicket.  

Dambulla with no hopes of defending the title they won last year, the best they can hope for is to finish third in the final standings. To do that, they must win their final game against Jaffna. They have national Test players in the caliber of Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando all of whom played in the recently concluded series against Bangladesh in their ranks. Provided they are available for today’s game Dambulla could easily come out on top.

For table toppers Galle, their game against Colombo at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium, could serve as a dress rehearsal for the final against Kandy. Having already asserted themselves as the top team in the league phase Galle who faltered only in their opening match of the tournament against Kandy, have been on song making the highest total of the tournament – 711/9 against Jaffna before the tournament took a break for the New Year. Devoid of big names they have an all-powerful batting line up with five of their batsmen scoring centuries which includes the highest in the tournament so far – 242 by Pasindu Sooriyabandara who is also easily the leading run scorer with 774 runs (avg. 70.36). Vishad Randika, Lakshan Edirisinghe, Oshada Fernando and Sangeeth Cooray are the other batters who have crossed the three-figure mark.

Galle also have in their midst spinners Nishan Peiris and Nimesh Vimukthi and seamers Udith Madushan and Milan Ratnayake who are capable of running through any batting line-up.

As for Colombo they have an uphill task of trying to beat a high riding side like Galle. They have just two wins against five losses, but they can draw inspiration from running up a total of 500 and beating Kandy – one of the finalists, by an innings and 21 runs in their last game. If national cricketers Kusal Mendis (captain), Dasun Shanaka, Dimuth Karunaratne and Kasun Rajitha can make themselves available, it is not beyond the capabilities of Colombo to beat Galle. – (ST)