Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club produced a fine all round performance to beat the more fancied Panadura Sports Club by 19 runs in an exciting SLC Premier limited overs cricket tournament group ‘A’ fixture worked off at the Panadura Esplanade recently.
After they were restricted to a modest 193 runs having elected to bat first the Airmen got their act together well on the field and went on to dismiss their opponents for 174 runs following some accurate bowling from their seamers and the spinners.
Air Force SC made an excellent start while defending their total by capturing three early wickets within the first seven overs of the innings through their two opening bowlers Sahan Jayawardena and Lasanda Rukmal.
They were able to keep the pressure on until the end and snapped up wickets at regular intervals before their spin duo of Akila Isanka and Pishan Hewage came into the limelight and added the finishing touches in great style.
Panadura SC of course made a partial recovery through Malith Chaturanga, Supeshala Jayathilake and wicket keeper batsman Charitha Buddhika but after their departure the innings completely lost the momentum and eventually they fell short by 19 runs.
Earlier Air Force SC electing to bat first rallied around through their late order batsmen to put up a competitive total with Dushan Vimukthi hitting a top score of 47 from 75 deliveries inclusive of one six and seven boundaries.
But it was the two all- rounders Sahan Jayawardena and Pishan Hewage who really helped them to get closer to the two hundred run mark with some sensible batting during the last few overs of the innings.
In fact the Airmen were struggling at 123 for 8 wickets in the 39th over before Hewage joined Jayawardena to put on a match winning ninth wicket partnership of 65 runs from eight overs which really swung the game in their favour.
Jayawardena batting at number ten had three sixes and a couple of boundaries while Hewage struck three boundaries during his entertaining knock of 39 runs from the same number of deliveries.
Air Force SC: 193 in 48.4 overs (Dushan Vimukthi 47, Pishan Hewage 39, Sahan Jayawardena 38 n. o, Gayan Sirisoma 2/31, Malith Chaturanga 2/25, Rajeeva Weerasinghe 2/36)
Panadura SC: 174 in 46 overs (Malith Chaturanga 32, Supeshala Jayathilake 34, Charitha Buddhika 31, Sahan Jayawardena 2/18, Lasanda Rukmal 2/39, Akila Isanka 2/34, Pishan Hewage 2/31)
