Galle make it hard on themselves to enter final

Sonal Dinusha (53 & 2/32) of Dambulla receives his Man of the Match award against Kandy from Match Referee Graeme Labrooy

Dushan Vimukthi (46 & 3/34) of Colombo receives his Man of the Match award against Galle from Match Referee Brendon Kuruppu

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Following their loss to Colombo on Thursday, Galle have more or less lost the opportunity to make it to the final of the National Super League 50-over tournament.

Galle, the NSL 4-day league finalists play their final round robin league match today against wooden spoonist Kandy at the P. Sara Oval. Even if they win, the maximum points they can get is 17 or 18 with a bonus point.

Defending champions Jaffna on the other hand have 16 points, but have two matches in hand, one of which is against Colombo at the P. Sara Oval today.

A win for Jaffna will assure them of a place in the final where they will meet high-riding Dambulla who have already qualified and are perched nicely on top of the table with a clear lead of 28 points.

For Galle to have any outside chance of making it to the final, Jaffna must lose both their remaining games against Colombo and Dambulla on 3 April, which is most unlikely to happen.

After going through five matches without a win Colombo finally tasted success when they defeated Galle by 71 runs which has to a certain extent lifted them off the bottom of the table to fourth position, leaving Kandy at the bottom.

Monday will see the conclusion of the round robin league with the final set of matches being played between Dambulla and Jaffna at the P. Sara Oval, which will be a precursor to the final on 6 April, and between Kandy and Colombo at the R. Premadasa Stadium, a game that will have no bearing on the final.