Jaffna Stallions gallop to 4th consecutive win

Avishka Fernando plays an inside-out shot during his knock of 84 as he guides Jaffna Stallions to a five-wicket win over Galle Gladiators at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium yesterday

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Jaffna Stallions continued their dream run in the My11Circle Lanka Premier League (LPL) with their fourth successive win of the round robin stage beating a hapless Galle Gladiators team sans their captain Shahid Afridi by five wickets at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium yesterday.

Afridi had to leave for Pakistan yesterday due to a family emergency and his absence did not augur too well for the struggling Galle team who once again fell very much short in their batting as well as their bowling to suffer their fourth defeat in a row.

Galle’s total of 170-6 was hardly sufficient to contain a strong Jaffna batting line up and although they created some kind of pressure towards the end by getting rid of Thisara Perera and Man of the Match Avishka Fernando within seven runs of each other Jaffna had, too, many match winners in their side and came out of it exceptionally well with Wanindu Hasaranga providing the final spark by hitting Mohamed Amir for four fours in the penultimate over to all but seal the match.  

Like in their first match against Galle, Fernando showed that he had a liking for their bowling by playing a gem of an innings – 84 off 59 balls inclusive of five sixes and seven fours. He made an undefeated 92 in the first game that saw Jaffna coast to an eight-wicket win.

Yesterday after a slow beginning, Fernando went after spinner Akila Dananjaya, excelling in the pull and the slog sweep that fetched three sixes off one over from Dananjaya, where he brought up his half century off 40 balls.

Fernando could not quite stay until the end to finish the game off being dismissed in the 18th over holing out to long-on. With Minod Bhanuka (40) he added 99 off 58 balls for the second wicket.

Galle got off to a fine start after winning the toss with Danushka Gunathilaka and Ahsan Ali one of four changes made to the team putting together a stand of 67 off 51 balls.

Both openers survived early chances – Gunathilaka (2) an easy run out missed by Dhananjaya de Silva at the non-strikers end in the first over and Ahsan (8) caught behind off a no-ball from Usman Shinwari in the third.

With the partnership going strong Jaffna turned to their wicket-taking spinner Hasaranga and he obliged by separating the openers for 67 by brilliantly catching Ahsan off his own bowling for 29.

Gunathilaka carried the Galle batting on his shoulders reaching his second successive half-century – 56 off 44 balls, but Jaffna came back into the game by stifling the run rate through spinners Hasaranga and Dhananjaya de Silva resulting in the fall of two wickets for eight runs in three overs, which included the prize scalp of Gunathilaka. Going for a reverse sweep off De Silva Gunathilaka only ended up top edging a catch to short fine leg.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa leading Galle in Afridi’s absence fell to an extraordinary diving catch by his vis-a-vis Thisara Perera at cover for one.

The sudden loss of wickets shifted the control of the game towards Jaffna and Galle once again showed they lacked quality batsmanship in their middle order.

At 118-4 in the 15th over the situation looked pretty gloomy for Galle, but Jamaican Chadwick Walton playing his second match brightened up things with a cameo knock of 31 off 14 balls clobbering Shinwari for 26 off four balls (inclusive of three sixes) and undoing that effort by edging the fifth ball of the over to the wicket-keeper.

Galle’s weak lower order proved to be their downfall with only 18 runs scored off the last 19 balls.

Despite the loss Galle had some positives in young fast bowler Dhananjaya Lakshan playing his first match. He created some pressure for Jaffna with the wicket of Avishka Fernando in the 18th over conceding only five runs, but Hasaranga’s fours off Amir redressed the situation for Jaffna who look impregnable at the moment. 

Scores

Galle Gladiators 170-6 (20) (Danushka Gunathilaka 56, Ahsan Ali 29, Azam Khan 25, Chadwick Walton 31, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/29)

Jaffna Stallions 174-5 (19.4) (Avishka Fernando 84, Minod Bhanuka 40, Asitha Fernando 2/30)