Dominant Galle thrash Colombo by ten wickets

Oshada Fernando followed his first innings double century with another fine knock of 89* for Galle

Nipun Karunanayake scored 87 in Jaffna’s run chase against Dambulla

• Meet Kandy in final on 30 April

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Dominant Galle completed a comprehensive ten-wicket win over Colombo to finish the league phase on top of the table in their final match of the National Super League 4-day tournament concluded at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium yesterday.

Starting the fourth and final day requiring 145 runs to reach the target of 154, Galle openers Sangeeth Cooray and Oshada Fernando got the runs with ease in 40.5 overs in the second session with the Colombo bowling making no impact on them. Cooray made 57* off 126 balls (7 fours) and Fernando followed his first innings double century with another sterling display of batting to score 89* off 124 balls (10 fours, 3 sixes) which took him past Pasindu Sooriyabandara as the leading run scorer of the competition with 808 runs, one run more than his team mate.

Kandy who had completed all their fixtures and finished second, will meet Galle in the final at Pallekele commencing 30 April.

In the other match played at the Pallekele Cricket Stadium, Jaffna left with the gigantic task of chasing 481 for victory off 82 overs by Dambulla put up a much better batting performance than the first when they were dismissed for 169. Good contributions from the first seven batsmen saw Jaffna score 368-7, conceding first innings points to Dambulla in the drawn match.

Openers Sandun Weerakkody (49) and Ron Chandraguptha (52) gave them a flying start posting 80 for the first wicket off 8.1 overs, but apart from Nipun Karunanayake who made an attractive 87 off 122 balls (10 fours) the other batters got starts but failed to go and get a big score. The run outs of two of their key batsmen Janith Liyanage and Lahiru Madushanka didn’t help Jaffna’s cause. 

RESULTS

• At Dambulla: Galle beat Colombo by 10 wickets.

Colombo 296 and 251;

Galle 394 and 156-0 (Sangeeth Cooray 57*, Oshada Fernando 89*)

• At Pallekele: Match Drawn (Dambulla take first innings points)

Dambulla 392 and 257-9 decl. (o/n 216-7) (Ranesh Silva 43, Chamindu Wijesinghe 66, Naveen Fernando 45, Lakshan Sandakan 34, Janith Liyanage 3/27, Dilum Sudeera 2/69, Kalhara Senaratne 2/54)

Jaffna 169 and 368-7 (Sandun Weerakkody 49, Ron Chandraguptha 52, Santhush Gunathilake 36, Nipun Karunanayake 87, Janith Liyanage 36, Lahiru Madushanka 30, Ravindu Fernando 30*, Murvin Abinash 2/81, Duvindu Tillakaratne 3/53)