Friday Apr 19, 2024
Friday Apr 19, 2024
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The five captains with the LPL trophy (from left): Thisara Perera (Jaffna Kings), Angelo Mathews (Colombo Stars), Kusal Mendis (Galle Gladiators), Dasun Shanaka (Dambulla Aura) and Wanindu Hasaranga (Kandy Falcons)
Dunith Wellalage and Shoaib Malik were Jaffna Kings’ principal scorers with 30 apiece
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Galle Gladiators skipper Kusal Mendis celebrates his half-century
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Jaffna Kings began the defence of their title on a winning note defeating Galle Gladiators, their opponents in the final last year by 24 runs in the first double-header of the opening day, played at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Hambantota yesterday.
Jaffna defended a small total of 137 superbly by dismissing Galle for 113 to set up a new ground record as the lowest total ever defended.
Galle seemed to be cruising towards a comfortable win when they scored 46 without loss in the first power play with their captain Kusal Mendis in prime form. But the introduction of the spinners brought about Galle’s downfall as Maheesh Theekshana, Vijayakanth Vijaskanth and Dunith Wellalage spun a web around the Galle batters conceding 58 runs off 11 overs while capturing four wickets.
From a position of strength at 63-1, Galle’s batting crumbled as the spinners tightened the screws, losing their last nine wickets for 50 runs. The only bright spark for Galle was Mendis’ knock of 51 off 43 balls (5 fours), his fifth half-century in LPL.
As long as Mendis was at the wicket there was hope for Galle, but Theekshana struck a crucial blow for Jaffna when he trapped Mendis’s lbw in the 16th over at 97 and with that faded Galle’s chances.
Invited to bat first, Jaffna didn’t get off to the best of starts, losing openers Avishka Fernando and Rahmanullah Gurbaz for only 11 in the fourth over and right throughout their innings it was a struggle with the highest partnership coming from Shoaib Malik and Wellalage who put on 39 for the sixth wicket with each of them scoring 30.
Dhananjaya de Silva batted fluently for 29 at the top of the order, otherwise Jaffna's batting was kept under strict control by the Galle seamers and spinners who shared all 10 wickets.
Jaffna lost the services of their wicket-keeper Gurbaz when he was hit with a painful blow on his thumb and had to retire.
The substitute wicket-keeper Sadeera Samarawickrama had a good day behind the stumps snaring four catches. Wellalage took the Player of the Match award for his all-round contribution (30 runs. 1/14 and 1 catch).
The National Women’s Cricket team captain Chamari Athapaththu declared open the Lanka Premier League 2022. – (ST)
Scores:
