NSL 4-day tournament – a weekend sans Test stars

 The first two weekends of the NSL 4-day tournament have produced good competitive cricket

• Chance for Kandy, Dambulla to grab top spot

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

With pacesetters Jaffna having a free weekend, gives a chance for second and third placed Kandy and Dambulla to take over the lead in the ongoing National Super League 4-day tournament.

Jaffna holds an 11 point lead over Kandy who have a good opportunity of nullifying it and going ahead when they take on Colombo at the R. Premadasa Stadium today. Colombo have lost both their matches played so far in the first innings. Kandy in fact lost last weekend to Jaffna and will want to rectify that loss with a win which should see them take over the lead.

Defending champions Dambulla coming out for the first time hit up an impressive score of 530 against Colombo to take first innings points, but they nearly relinquished it when Colombo came back strongly in the second innings to capture six wickets for 58 runs and almost turned tables on them.

Dambulla play Galle who are at the bottom of the table at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Hambantota and a win here will boost their standings.

For this weekend’s matches the national cricketers will be unavailable as they will be on duty playing in the inaugural Test match between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan at the SSC starting on Friday.

In the first two weekends matches Test players Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis, and uncapped Lahiru Udara – all spent valuable time in the middle and scored centuries apiece gearing themselves up for the Test against Afghanistan, while Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal and Nishan Madushka each made a fifty. Udara is the second highest run-getter with 220 runs (avg. 55), a performance which has earned him a place in the squad of 16 named for the Test.

The Test bowlers have not had much success with none returning a five-fer, the best figures being Kasun Rajitha’s 3/29 and Prabath Jayasuriya’s 3/38. Jayasuriya (6 wickets) and Ramesh Mendis (5 wickets) who will form the spin combination for the Test match are the leading national bowlers in the bowling list.