Mathews goes down fighting - gives Jaffna Kings a scare

Colombo Stars captain Angelo Mathews hit a sparkling 73 and nearly carried his team over the line

 Sadeera Samarawickrama and Shoaib Malik gave the Jaffna Kings innings the impetus with a stand of 57

Colombo Kings captain Angelo Mathews played one of his finest T20 innings and nearly pulled off a stunning win over Jaffna Kings in the second double-header played at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Monday.

Jaffna won in the end by six runs, but it nearly turned out to be a win for Colombo.

Colombo seemed to be down and out with Jaffna reducing them to 67-7 in the 13th over chasing a target of 179, but Mathews who had relegated himself to number six because Ravi Bopara was ill, and Benny Howell took the match to the wire with a record eighth wicket stand of 90 off 41 balls. With 22 required off the final over, Colombo lost Howell to the first ball bowled by James Fuller for a crackerjack innings of 43 off 20 balls (5 fours, 2 sixes), but Mathews carried the fight by clubbing the third and fourth balls for sixes. However, in the end, it was not enough to get Colombo over the line finishing on 173-8. Mathews was left unconquered on a magnificent 73 scored off 37 balls (8 fours, 3 sixes). Fuller with two wickets for 32 was named player of the match.

After inviting Jaffna to bat first, Colombo ensured that they didn’t get off to that explosive start they produced in their record-breaking score against Dambulla on Sunday, but yet for all Jaffna ended with a decent 178-5 which proved more than enough to defeat Colombo.

There were no big contributions to the Jaffna total but Avishka Fernando (32 off 31 balls), Ashan Randika (27 off 14 balls), Sadeera Samarawickrama (32 off 25 balls), Shoaib Malik (29* off 13 balls) and Thisara Perera (35* off 26 balls) all played their part for them to end up with a challenging score.

Colombo confronted with a daring target were nowhere near towards getting to that when Jaffna pushed them onto the back foot in the first eight overs by capturing five wickets for 37. They were down in the dumps until Howell joined his captain and what a comeback, they made to make a match of it.   

Scores: Jaffna Kings 178-5 (20) (Avishka Fernando 32, Ashan Randika 27, Sadeera Samarawickrama 32, Shoaib Malik 29*, Thisara Perera 35*, Benny Howell 2/37) Colombo Stars 173-8 (20) (Angelo Mathews 73*, Benny Howell 43, James Fuller 2/33, Vijayakanth Vijaskanth 2/32)