Skipper Dhananjaya guides Jaffna to fourth win

By M. Shamil Amit

A captain’s knock of 101 in 120 balls inclusive of ten boundaries and a six by Dhananjaya de Silva laid the foundation for Jaffna to coast to a comfortable 51-run win over Dambulla in the second round match of the National Super League Limited Over cricket tournament played at the Pallekele International Stadium today.

Jaffna were invited to take first lease of the wicket and found themselves in deep trouble, losing three wickets with the score on 17 runs in the seventh over. But skipper de Silva took control, and associated in two fruitful partnerships that helped Jaffna post a competitive score.

The first of those partnerships was for the fourth-wicket for 83 runs with Santhush Gunatileke who made 39. The other was for 95 runs for the sixth-wicket with Ravindu Fernando, who chipped in with 37. Later in the innings Pramod Madushan and Dilum Sudeera featured in an unbroken 30-run stand for Jaffna to end with a formidable score of 266 for 8.

Dambulla in their run chase also underwent the same fate and were in a spot of bother with five of their top order batsmen back in the pavilion with just 90 runs on the board in the 21st over.

Sameera Sandmal and Duvindu Tilekeratne put in some resistance as the pair defied the Jaffna bowlers with 79 runs for the eighth wicket. But the task proved to be too daunting for Dambulla who were restricted to a score of 215 which saw them crashing to their fifth successive defeat.

Elsewhere, Kavishka Anjula shone with a 73-ball knock of 75 inclusive of nine boundaries and a six in Galle’s 44-run win over Colombo in another second round match of the same tournament played at the Rangiri Stadium in Dambulla.

Galle taking first lease of the wicket collapsed to 45 for 5 in the 16th over before losing two more wickets for the addition of 45 runs. They recovered thanks to Anjula who rescued the side by associating in two valuable partnerships – first for 58 runs for the ninth wicket with Akila Dhananjaya and the other of 64 runs for the last wicket with Chalana de Silva – for Galle to end with a respectable score of 225 runs.

Colombo in their run chase were making steady progress and were on 80 for 3 in the 11th over but lost two quick wickers before they reached the 100-run mark. Lahiru Madusanka and Ashen Bandara steadied the innings with the pair adding 46 runs for the sixth wicket.

A top knock of 43 runs coming from Lahiru Madusanka and the late order failed to make any impression as they lost the last three wickets for the addition of only 20 runs being bowled out for 181 runs.

Results:

At Pallekele – Jaffna won by 51 runs

Jaffna 266 for 8 in 50 overs (Dhananjaya de Silva 101, Santhush Gunatileke 39, Ravindu Fernando 37, Ishan Jayaratne 17; Lahiru Samarakoon 4 for 61, Dushan Hemantha 2 for 46)

Dambulla 215 for 9 in 50 overs (Sameera Sandmal 46, Duvindu Tilekeratne 42, Lasith Abeyratne 35, Gayan Maneeshan 22; Nuwan Pradeep 3 for 40, Ishan Jayaratne 2 for 25, Damitha Silva 2 for 29)

At Dambulla – Galle won by 44 runs

Galle 225 in 49.1 overs (Kavishka Anjula 75, Akila Dhananjaya 22, Mohamed Shamaaz 20, Jehan Daniel 20, Pabasara Waduge 16, Chalana de Silva 27 n.o.: Lahiru Madusanka 2 for 18, Kalana Perera 2 for 46, Himesh Ramanayake 2 for 51, Tharindu Ratnayake 2 for 64)

Colombo 181 in 45.5 overs (Lahiru Madusanka 43, Dimuth Karunaratne 42, Nipun Dhananjaya 26, Ashen Bandara 17, Tharindu Ratnayake 16; Chalana de Silva 3 for 27, Priyamal Perera 2 for 9)