Udara’s century gives Kandy their first win

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Kandy’s stand-in captain Lahiru Udara acknowledges after reaching his century

Ahan Wickramasinghe of Kandy who scored 71 gets runs on the leg side

Pathum Kumara’s innings of 66 almost carried Galle home

Colombo’s Ashen Bandara square drives during his knock of 69

A 141-run fourth wicket partnership between stand-in captain Lahiru Udara who stroked a run-a-ball century (109 off 108 balls, 12 fours) and Ahan Wickramasinghe (71 off 77 balls, 8 fours, 1 six) gave Kandy their first win of the National Super League 50-over tournament when they beat Galle in an eight-run thriller at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium yesterday.

The partnership helped Kandy to recover from losing their first three wickets for 46 to post a challenging total of 293. But Galle were not prepared to take things lying down for they mounted an exciting run chase to reply with 285 being dismissed in the final over with two balls to spare.

Galle’s gallant chase came through their seventh wicket pair Pathum Mahesh Kumara and Suminda Lakshan who carried the total from 195-6 to 279 when Movin Subasingha, the extremely talented former spin all-rounder from Wesley College made a double strike in the 49th over by getting rid of the two set batsmen Kumara for a well compiled 66 off 68 balls (4 fours, 1 six) and Lakshan for a delightful 42 off 41 balls (3 fours).

With 12 runs required off the final over Akila Dananjaya took three off the first two balls bowled by leg-spinner Pulina Tharanga, who then finished the match by trapping Mohammed Shiraz lbw and Praveen Jayawickrama (bowled) off the next two balls. Galle lost their last four wickets for six runs.

Defending champions Jaffna lost a golden opportunity of beating Colombo and heading the standings when rain forced a No Result in their match played at the Palleleke Cricket Stadium. Choosing to bat first after winning the toss Colombo struggled to 211-9 off 46.3 overs when rain washed out play for the rest of the match.

All-round contributions by the Jaffna seamers and spinners kept Colombo down to a moderate total with only national white ball cricketers Avishka Fernando (43 off 46 balls, 6 fours) and Ashen Bandara (69 off 71 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) showing some kind of intent to get their side towards a decent score.

Results

• At Pallekele: No Result (rain)
• Colombo 211-9 (46.3) (Avishka Fernando 43, Nipun Dananjaya 31, Ashen Bandara 69, Nisala Tharaka 20, Binura Fernando 2/37, Shiran Fernando 2/44, Ravindu Fernando 3/42, Dilum Sudeera 2/36) v Jaffna
• At Dambulla: Kandy beat Galle by eight runs
• Kandy 293 (50) (Sandun Weerakkody 24, Lahiru Udara 109, Ahan Wickramasinghe 71, Pulina Tharanga 30, Kavishka Anjula 2/54, Mohammed Shiraz 2/45, Praveen Jayawickrama 2/53, Akila Dananjaya 3/41)
• Galle 285 (49.4) (Sohan de Livera 52, Dhananjaya Lakshan 21, Lakshan Edirisinghe 39, Pathum Kumara 66, Suminda Lakshan 42, Ashian Daniel 3/36, Pulina Tharanga 3/43, Movin Subasinghe 3/15)