Malinga in seventh heaven

SLC Inter-Provincial Cricket Tournament 2019 

• Galle skipper takes 7 wickets to beat Kandy by 157 runs

By Shamseer Jaleel reporting from Pallekele

Galle skipper Lasith Malinga took 7 wickets, which helped his team to beat Kandy by 157 runs in their SLC Inter Provincial Cricket encounter concluded at the PallekeleInternational Cricket Stadium yesterday.

Kandy skipper Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and put the visitors in to bat. Galle batted well, but failed to put up a big partnership. Former Rajans player Sandun Weerakody (56) and Kushal Mendis (65) put up two brave half centuries, which helped the Galle team to put up a good fight in their innings. Lahiru Thirimanne, a World Cup candidate, missed out on a big score when he lost out his wicket. Youngsters Milinda Siriwardena (32) and Vinod Bahnuka (39) too played vital brisk knocks for the Southern outfit. Both Vandersay and Rajitha took 3 wickets a-piece.

In reply, Kandy never got into runs with their batsman as Malinga troubled the up country batsmen in tandem. Malinga took 5 wickets in his first 5 overs, and went to take 7 for 44 where he continued his 10 overs spell in tandem. Malinga arrived from India yesterday for the match at Pallekele, after playing for the Mumbai Indians in the ongoing IPL Tournament.

Pix by Thushith Wijedoru (SLC)