Liyanage steers Jaffna to thrilling one-wicket win with century

 Pavan Ratnayake of Dambulla receives the Player of the Match award from match referee Nevin Noyahr

• Dambulla begin defence of NSL 50-over title with win

Sri Lanka white ball cricketer Janith Liyanage played a superb captain’s innings of 130 off 106 balls (14 fours, 1 six) and shared a fifth wicket stand of 210 with Lahiru Madushanka (87 off 79 balls, 10 fours) as Jaffna bounced back from their defeat at the hands of Colombo last week to pull off a thrilling one-wicket win over Kandy in their National Super League 50-over match played at the Rangiri Dambulla Cricket Stadium yesterday.

In a record run chase Jaffna chased down Kandy’s total of 359-7 by replying with 360-9 with seven balls to spare. At one time when the Liyanage-Madushanka partnership was flourishing Jaffna looked like having the game under their control at 317-4 in the 42nd over. But once the stand was broken by the run out of Madushanka, Jaffna slipped to 344-9 in the 48th over. It was left to the last pair Shiran Fernando (16*) and Sahan Nanayakkara (3*) to steer Jaffna home. 

The Dambulla Stadium continued to be a batting paradise as it produced a total of 719 runs with both sides topping the 350-run mark.

Batting first Kandy notched up an impressive 359-7 courtesy of four half-centuries from the bats of their skipper Niroshan Dickwella (53 off 49 balls, 7 fours) and Lahiru Udara who hit a brilliant 93 off 61 balls (10 fours, 5 sixes) in an opening partnership of 143 off 17 overs that set the platform for the rest of the innings. Kamil Mishara (76 off 79 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) and Sahan Arachchige (73 off 66 balls, 7 fours, 2 sixes) continued the momentum with another century partnership worth 132 runs in 20 overs for the fourth wicket.

Dambulla began the defence of their title with a three-wicket win over Colombo at the Pallekele Cricket Stadium. Dambulla’s run chase was spearheaded by Pavan Ratnayake (90 off 100 balls, 6 fours, 1 six) and Ranesh Silva (50 off 63 balls, 3 fours) who put on 105 for the fourth wicket to enable them to reach the target of 262 with eight balls to spare.

Colombo invited to bat first scored 261-9 with national white ball opener Avishka Fernando (53 off 62 balls, 7 fours) and former Thomian cricketer Hasanka Ratnayake scoring a fifty on debut (55 off 33 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes). – (ST)