Jaffna seal place in third successive final

Dunith Wellalage

Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana

By Amindha de Alwis 

Jaffna Kings led by Thisara Perera booked their place in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) season three final with a 24-run victory over Kandy Falcons on the DLS method at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday.

The Kings were comfortably ahead of the DLS par-score of 74 when the heavens opened up 11 overs into their chase of 144.

Jaffna were in such a position thanks to a rollicking start by their top-order which had the scoreboard moving to 54 in just the fourth over. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Avishka Fernando took the attack to Kandy’s opening bowlers, and while the latter enjoyed a bit of luck with edges flying either side of the wicket-keeper, the pair’s aggressive approach had the opposition erring in their discipline, leaking 16 runs solely from wides in the powerplay.

Kandy fought back, however, dismissing both batters and Afif Hossain in quick succession before a short rain-delay disrupted play in the sixth over. 

With the required run rate having dropped to below a run-a-ball, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dunith Wellalage just had to knock the ball around upon play resuming and they were moving along without much distress before the weather gods returned to have the final say.

Earlier, Kandy Falcons who won the toss and elected to bat first got off to a steady start courtesy a second-wicket stand of 61 between Pathum Nissanka and Kamindu Mendis.
They were largely untroubled before Vijayakanth Viyaskanth struck twice in one over, first by sneaking one under a Nissanka sweep to disturb the stumps, and three balls later, having Mendis caught on the circle attempting a reverse-sweep.

Ashen Bandara and Najibullah Zadran took the score past 100 but Kandy hit another speed-bump as Viyaskanth and Maheesh Theekshana accounted for both before the slog overs. 
It was another impressive outing for the 21-year-old Viyaskanth who is Jaffna’s leading wicket-taker this season.

The Kings’ fielders gave their bowlers good backup in the middle-phase of the innings with the highlight being an acrobatic boundary-line catch by Gurbaz at long-off to remove Fabian Allen.

Chamika Karunaratne and Carlos Brathwaite ensured that Jaffna avoided being bowled out, but with only one boundary being scored in the final five overs, they ended up with just143 on the board on a wicket that had more runs for the taking.

Wanindu Hasaranga’s Kandy side will have a second shot at making the final should they win the second qualifier which is to be played today evening (22).

Scores:

Kandy Falcons: 143 for 8 in 20 overs (P Nissanka 35, K Mendis 26, N Zadran 22, V Viyaskanth 3/30, M Theekshana 2/24)

Jaffna Kings: 98 for 3 in 11 overs (A Fernando 21, D Wellalage 19 no, S Samarawickrama 15 no)