Jaffna Kings ensure themselves of top two spot with win over Galle Gladiators

 Captain Kusal Mendis played a lone hand for Galle Gladiators with an excellent half-century

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Galle Gladiators have not won a single game in the ongoing Lanka Premier League batting second and yesterday at the R. Premadasa Stadium it remained so, when they lost to Jaffna Kings by 16 runs in the first double-header of the day.

Galle were chasing 171 and at moments they seemed to be well on course towards reaching that target with Kusal Mendis playing a captain’s innings of 58 off 45 balls (6 fours, 1 six). But during their innings they faltered at a crucial juncture when Mendis was deprived of the strike and faced only two balls during a 17-ball liaison with Wahab Riaz that eventually cost Galle the match as they ended up scoring 154-9. 

Mendis has been brilliant right throughout the LPL and the way he countered the extra bounce on the surface made him successful whereas his teammates failed. The Jaffna seamers used the extra bounce to good effect to pick up the wickets.

Following the early strike by Binura Fernando who took two wickets in his first spell, Jaffna kept the Galle batsmen on a tight leash in the middle overs through their spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Vijayakanth Vijaskanth conceding 45 runs in eight overs and capturing three wickets. Fernando returned at the death to shut out Galle’s resistance, completely picking up his third wicket conceding 20 runs.

The highlight of Jaffna’s innings was a splendid knock of 54 off 35 balls (5 fours, 1 six) by Bangladesh’s Afif Hossain on his debut. He displayed a variety of strokes and showed why he is rated very highly, a player of great promise. 

With Sadeera Samarawickrama (32 off 28 balls), Afif who took the Player of the Match award batted splendidly through the middle overs offsetting the loss of the openers to provide Jaffna with a base to mount their final assault which came in the way of skipper Thisara Perera who’s 13-ball 26 saw them to their final total of 170-8. With this win Jaffna assured themselves of a place in the top two of the standings. Four of their five wins have come batting first. – (ST)

Scores: Jaffna Kings 170-8 (20) (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 23, Asif Hossain 54, Sadeera Samarawickrama 32, Thisara Perera 26, Nuwan Thushara 2/31, Wahab Riaz 3/37)

Galle Gladiators 154-9 (20) (Kusal Mendis 58, Nuwanidu Fernando 22, Ifthikar Ahmed 23, Binura Fernando 3/20, James Fuller 2/57, Vijayakanth Vijaskanth 2/27)

Afif Hossain made it a memorable LPL debut scoring a half-century for Jaffna Kings

Shoaib Malik falls in extraordinary circumstances as he is out hit wicket when the back protection of the helmet dislodges the bails