Pathirana, Waseem shine in Colombo Strikers fourth win

By M. Shamil Amit

Pacie Matheesha Pathirana who bagged four scalps and Muhammad Waseem who made a half ton shone for Colombo Strikers in their comfortable seven wicket win over Galle Marvels in the 19th match of the fifth Lanka Premier League tournament played under floodlights at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

The win saw Colombo Strikers chalking up their fourth victory and the second successive against Galle Marvels who ended their league campaign on a losing note.

Pathirana’s four wickets helped Colombo Strikers to restrict Galle Marvels for a score of 138 runs.

Waseem’s 50 off 44 balls inclusive of four boundaries and two sixes, associating in two valuable partnerships of 46 runs for the second wicket with Rahmanullah Gurbaz and 49 runs for the fourth wicket with Glenn Phillips enabled the Strikers in pursuit of 139 runs to race to the target with eight balls to spare.
Galle Marvels taking first lease of the wicket lost their openers with the score on 25 in the fifth over and were made to struggle for their runs. Tim Seifert who made a top score of 44 shared a stand of 41 runs for the fourth wicket with Bhanuka Rajapakse.

The separation of the pair saw Seifert along with Sahan Arachchige posting the side’s 100 runs which came off 82 balls. Nine runs later Arachchige fell victim to pacie Matheesha Pathirana which followed by Siefert associating in a brief stand of 23 runs for the sixth wicket with Isuru Udana before he was dismissed by spinner Shadab Khan.
Pacie Pathirana who ended with four wickets which was his second four wicket haul of the tournament, cleaned off the tail as Galle Marvels lost their last three wickets with the score on 138.

Today Colombo Strikers will meet Dambulla Sixers in the final league encounter scheduled to be played from 7.30 p.m.

Result:
At R. Premadasa Stadium – Colombo Strikers won by seven wickets
Galle Marvels 138 in 19.5 overs (Tim Seifert 44, Bhanuka Rajapakse 35, Sadisha Rajapakse 15: Matheesha Pathirana 4/20, Shadab Khan 2/20, Dunith Wellalage 2/30)
Colombo Strikers 142 for 3 in 18.2 overs (Muhammad Waseem 50, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 23, Glenn Phillips 31 n.o., Sadeera Samarawickrama 15 n.o.)