Woeful Jaffna concede title to Dambulla

Navod Paranavithana played a lone hand for Jaffna with 

a half-century

Sonal Dinusha excelled with bat and ball (45* and 3/33) 

for Dambulla

Ashan Priyanjan and Pavan Ratnayake put Dambulla on course for victory with a stand of 73

National Super League 50-over final

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Dambulla continued their dominance over Jaffna in the National Super League 50-over tournament when they won a low scoring final by five wickets with 11 overs to spare under lights at the R Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

Jaffna, the defending champions put up a woeful display of batting being dismissed for 160 in 47.3 overs, a total which Dambulla made light of when they passed it in 39 overs. The win crowned a splendid season for Dambulla who performed the ‘double’ of the league and limited-over titles. They had earlier won the NSL League final.

Dambulla faltered in their run chase when fast bowler Binura Fernando struck two early blows in his opening spell getting rid of national players Minod Bhanuka and Kamindu Mendis to reduce them to 6-2. Pavan Ratnayake and seasoned campaigner Ashan Priyanjan led a revival with a stand of 73 off 113 balls that put Dambulla back on track. Priyanjan made 33 off 64 balls (4 fours). Sonal Dinusha added a further 40 off 45 balls with Ratnayake who went onto score a splendid 62 off 80 balls (6 fours, 1 six). Dinusha remained unbeaten on 45 off 52 balls (4 fours) to see Dambulla home.

For Jaffna only opener Navod Paranavithana put up any resistance against the three-prong spin attack of Dambulla scoring a pleasing half-century before being castled by Sri Lanka wrist spinner Lakshan Sandakan for 51 off 72 balls (6 fours).

Sandakan troubled all the batsmen with his left-arm spin extracting appreciable turn from a dry surface to finish with three wickets for 22 runs. He received excellent support from left-arm spinner Sonal Dinusha (3/33) and leg-spinner Dushan Hemantha (3/22).

Jaffna who won the toss and chose to bat first started off well scoring 96-2 in the 22nd over before the wheels came off their innings. Starting with the dismissal of skipper Janith Liyanage for 16, Jaffna lost five wickets for 12 runs to the spinners to be 116-7 off 33 overs when rain interrupted play. No overs were reduced and the game went its full distance with the eighth wicket pair Dilum Sudeera (23 off 68 balls) and Jeffrey Vandersay (26* off 45 balls) adding a valuable 35 runs to the Jaffna total.

Scores: 

Jaffna 160 (47.3) (Navod Paranavithana 51, Dilum Sudeera 23, Jeffrey Vandersay 26*, Sonal Dinusha 3/33, Lakshan Sandakan 3/22, Dushan Hemantha 3/22)

Dambulla 163-5 (39) (Pavan Ratnayake 62, Ashan Priyanjan 33, Sonal Dinusha 45*, Binura Fernando 2/17, Jeffrey Vandersay 2/48)