Jaffna Kings end league phase in second place with win over Colombo Stars

Jaffna Kings skipper Thisara Perera achieved the early breakthrough with the wicket of Colombo Kings opener Dinesh Chandimal for a duck 

Defending champions Jaffna Kings warmed themselves up for tomorrow’s Lanka Premier League Qualifier 1 clash with table leaders Kandy Falcons with a facile eight wicket-win over Colombo Stars in their final league match played at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday. 

Jaffna’s win was their sixth out of eight games and saw them finish second place to Kandy (14 points) with 12 points.

Colombo offered hardly any resistance in this first double-header of the day making an under-par total of 128-9, which the Jaffna openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Avishka Fernando nearly but overhauled with a stand of 105 off 71 balls. 

Gurbaz departed for an innovative knock of 69 off 40 balls (4 sixes, 8 fours) taking the Player of the Match award with it, while his more circumspect partner remained unbeaten on 40 off 38 balls (3 fours) to become the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 268 runs.   

From the moment Jaffna captain Thisara Perera rattled Dinesh Chandimal’s stumps with a delivery that cut back sharply off the seam off the fourth ball of the innings, Colombo were on the back foot as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals so that at the end of the first power play they were 25-4 with Perera and Shoaib Malik bowling for the first time in the tournament his gentle off spin, sharing the spoils. 

At the halfway stage Colombo had lost half the side for 53, and although Nishan Madushka (35 off 44 balls) tried his best to consolidate and Dominic Drakes brought the innings to life with a late spurt (38 off 20 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes) that saw 49 runs being scored off the last five overs, Colombo were always going to struggle with not many runs on the board. 

Overall, it was a dismal batting effort by Colombo who rested some of their key players and made four changes to their side including that of skipper Angelo Mathews who was rested and the reins handed to Niroshan Dickwella. Colombo who are third are assured of playing in the play-offs.

Scores: 

nColombo Kings 128-9 (20) (Nishan Madushka 35, Ravi Bopara 20, Dominic Drakes 38, Thisara Perera 2/14, Shoaib Malik 2/4)

nJaffna Kings 131-2 (15.5) (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 69, Avishka Fernando 40*)  

(ST)