SLC Inter Provincial Tournament 2019 Galle and Colombo hold the edge

The second set of games in the SLC Inter Provincial Cricket Tournament 2019 will be worked off today at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and Dambulla Rangiri Stadium.

Kandy, who were beaten by Galle in their first match, will be under pressure to perform well at Pallekele when they meet Colombo, who won their first game against Dambulla.

The Kandy team’s few successes were their bowlers Kasun Rajitha and Jeff Vandersay both taking 3 wickets, looking threatening for the Up Country unit. Dimuth Karunaratne batted for an unbeaten 39 though it took longer than expected. Thisara Perera too did not have a good start and will be under pressure to perform well here, being a one day specialist with a lot of experience under his belt both with the bat and ball. For Colombo, there were useful knocks from Chamika Karunaratne and Avishka Fernando, but a big knock is expected from Chamara Silva and Dinesh Chandimal. On form, Colombo looks slightly a better team to pull it off.

In the second game, when Galle team meet the Dambulla outfit in Dambulla, all eyes will be on the Galle skipper, Lasith Malinga who had a superb exhibition of fast bowling on returning from the IPL from the Mumbai Indians game, where he ripped through the Kandy batting with a 7 wicket haul. In batting, Kusal Mendis was in good form - where he left from the South African tour was continued along with Sandun Weerakkody, who also had a good brisk half century. Dambulla skipper Angelo Matthew and his deputy Niroshan Dickwella had poor starts and will need to be on the top if they are to trouble the strong Galle team. The strong Galle outfit is set for their second win in the tournament. 

6 April (Today)

• Dambulla vs. Galle at Dambulla
• Colombo vs. Kandy at Pallekele

Colombo:

Dinesh Chandimal (Captain), Upul Tharanga (Vice-Captain), Avishka Fernando, Angelo Perera, Ashan Priyanjan, Kamindu Mendis, Seekkuge Prasanna, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, Asitha Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, Chamara Silva, Mohammed Shiraz, Shehan Jayasuriya

Kandy: 

Dimuth Karunarathne (Captain), Thisara Perera (Vice-Captain), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Pathum Nissanka, Priyamal Perera, Roshen Silva, Asela Gunaratne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Malinda Pushpakumara, Kasun Rajitha, Nuwan Pradeep, Chathuranga De Silva, Sachithra Senanayake, Dilesh Gunaratne, Manoj Sarathchandra

Galle:

Lasith Malinga (Captain), Lahiru Thirimanne (Vice-Captain), Kusal Mendis, Sandun Weerakkody, Mahela Udawatte, Minod Bhanuka, Dhananjaya De Silva, Milinda Siriwardena, Nishan Peiris, Chamikara Edirisinghe, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Madushanka, Sammu Ashan, Shehan Madushanka, Wanindu Hasaranga

Dambulla:

Angelo Mathews (Captain), Niroshan Dickwella (Vice-Captain), Danushka Gunathilake, Oshada Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jeewan Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Lakshan Sandakan, Prabath Jayasuriya, Isuru Udana, Ishan Jayaratne, Sachithra Serasinghe, Vishwa Fernando, Ashen Bandara, Ramesh Mendis

(SJ)