Mendis holds key to Galle gaining first innings lead

• Unfancied Kandy surprise Galle in National Super League 4-day final

Kandy’s Ashian Daniel celebrates his maiden first-class fifty

Kandy fast bowler Nimsara Atharagalla rattled Galle top order with three wickets

Galle skipper Ramesh Mendis cuts for runs during his unbeaten knock of 79

Unfancied Kandy was in a strong position to grab first innings points over Galle after reducing them to 247-8 in reply to their total of 316 on the second day of the National Super League 4-day final played at the Pallekele Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Galle trail Kandy by 69 runs with only two wickets in hand one of them being skipper Ramesh Mendis on whose shoulders lie the responsibility of guiding his team towards gaining a first innings lead. Mendis who came to bat at the fall of the fourth wicket at 101 was unbeaten on 79 scored off 118 balls (6 fours) but he has only the tail-enders in support to get towards Kandy’s total.

Kandy gained an early breakthrough when Nimsara Atharagalla trapped the leading run scorer of the competition Oshada Fernando lbw for a second ball duck as the batsman moved across his stumps. In the absence of their other prolific scorer Pasindu Sooriyabandara who is with the Sri Lanka ‘A’ side playing Afghanistan ‘A’ in the unofficial ODI series, Fernando’s early loss was a big blow for Galle. Galle survived a hostile opening spell from Atharagalla to be 23-1 off 9 overs at lunch.

But after the break Atharagalla struck in the second over to send back Sangeeth Cooray for 12 and was unfortunate not to have the wicket of Shane Fernando as well, when the batsman was dropped in the slips at six.

But the lapse didn’t prove too costly as Kandy kept the pressure on Galle by getting rid of Shehan Fernando for 33 when he mistimed a ball from Lasith Embuldeniya and presented mid-off with an easy catch. His dismissal broke a partnership of 51 with Dhananjaya Lakshan.

Atharagalla, coming for a new spell, picked up his third wicket by having Lakshan Edirisinghe caught hooking to deep midwicket for 19 to make Galle 101-4. Dissanayake who been bowling in tandem with Atharagalla with the new ball without much success was finally rewarded with the wicket of Vishad Randika whom he cleaned up for 19 in his 9th over on the stroke of tea as Galle limped to 138-5 with Lakshan holding up the batting from the other end with 36*. Kandy dominated the afternoon session capturing four Galle wickets. 

Kandy struck another crucial blow in the sixth over after the tea break when Dissanayake had Lakshan caught for 47 to make Galle 156-6. Nishan Peiris and Mendis added a valuable 57 for the seventh wicket before Peiris was castled by Pulina Tharanga for 17. Praveen Jayawickrama was unfortunate to be given out lbw without offering a stroke against Embuldeniya although the ball seemed to be hitting outside off stump.

Tilanga Udeshana hung around for 30 balls without scoring to help his Captain add 33 in an unfinished partnership.

Kandy’s last two wickets lasted for 13 overs adding 37 runs to their overnight total of 279-8 with Ashian Daniel going on to complete his maiden first-class fifty off 99 balls (5 fours) and adding 34 valuable runs for the ninth wicket with Acting Captain Lasith Embuldeniya (15).

Considering that at one time Kandy were 201-6, their final total of 316 was a good recovery with the bottom half of the batting contributing a princely 115 runs.

Surprisingly, Galle’s leading wicket-taker off-spinner Nishan Peiris with 30 wickets was the only unsuccessful of the six bowlers used by skipper Ramesh Mendis conceding 41 runs off his 16 overs. The match continues on its third day today. – (ST)

Scores: Kandy 316 (o/n 279-8) (Pawantha Weerasinghe 27, Sahan Kosala 84, Sithara Gimhan 90, Ashian Daniel 50*, Dhananjaya Lakshan 2/74, Tilanga Udeshana 2/56, Asanka Manoj 3/46, Ramesh Mendis 2/47)

Galle 247-8 at close (Shehan Fernando 33, Dhananjaya Lakshan 47, Ramesh Mendis 79*, Sithum Dissanayake 2/48, Nimsara Atharagalla 3/47, Lasith Embuldeniya 2/65)