Galle Titans dent Jaffna King’s ego

Tim Seifert making his final appearance for Galle Titans scored his third half-century

Galle Titans seamer Kasun Rajitha is on fire as he celebrates a Jaffna Kings wicket

• Break four-match losing streak with win

Defending champions Jaffna Kings put themselves in a position of failing to qualify for the Playoffs when they suffered their fifth defeat in the ongoing Lanka Premier League (LPL) going down to Galle Titans by seven wickets in the first double-header at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

The defeat left Jaffna’s destiny in reaching the qualifiers in the hands of the other teams, something which the three-time champions have never done in their history.

Both Jaffna and Galle came off losses in their last game and were desperate for a win. Galle on a four-match losing streak ended their miserable run with a convincing win where they dominated the game from the very first over when Kasun Rajitha got rid of Jaffna’s adventurous opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck. It was Gurbaz’s fourth single-digit dismissal in eight innings.

Rajitha who’s had a rather ordinary tournament so far wreaked havoc as he knocked the top four Jaffna batsmen out to have them reeling at 21-5 inside the first power play. Rajitha bowled with pace and movement on a fresh pitch to have the batsmen in all sorts of trouble. With Lahiru Kumara also delivering from the other side Jaffna’s strong batting simply crumbled with hardly any resistance from the batsmen. To be bowled out for 89 was a huge letdown for Jaffna whose net run rate also suffered going from plus to minus. This being their final league game Jaffna had to win to keep their hopes of qualifying alive, but now their chances will depend on how the other teams fare in the remaining matches.

Dunith Wellalage promoted to number four was Jaffna’s top scorer with 22 off 31 balls, but the others hardly made any contribution to the total. Not surprisingly, there were 73 dot balls in the innings, which says much for the dominance of the Galle bowlers.

To get ahead of Jaffna’s run rate Galle needed to score the required runs inside 11 overs, but they took their time over getting to that target being more concerned about the win than the run rate. Tim Seifert played another refined innings – 55 off 42 balls (5 fours, 1 six) to see Galle home with 39 balls to spare, his third fifty of the tournament. It was the New Zealander’s final appearance for Galle as he along with teammate Chad Bowes will be leaving to represent their country on their tour of UAE starting next week.

Galle who are on par with Jaffna on six points have a game in hand against Colombo Strikers on Tuesday to make it to the Qualifiers and will need to find sufficient replacements for the two New Zealanders, especially Seifert who has been the backbone of the Galle batting. – (ST)

Scores: 

nJaffna Kings: 89 (20) (Dunith Wellalage 22, Kasun Rajitha 4/20, Lahiru Kumara 2/13, Tabraiz Shamsi 2/19)

nGalle Titans: 90-3 (13.3) (Tim Seifert 55)