Isuru Udana’s superb opening spell and Tim Seifert’s blazing knock led the way for Galle Marvels to defeat Kandy Falcons in the 9th match of the LPL 2024, played at Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium.
After winning the toss, Galle Marvels skipper Niroshan Dickwella put the opponents to bat first. Kandy Falcons got off to a terrible start, losing four wickets inside the powerplay for 32 runs.
At 3/2, Seifert dropped Fletcher when he was on 2, and it would have been an even greater disaster for Kandy if the latter had held onto that catch. The West Indies powerhouse capitalized on that dropped chance and reached his fifty before he was given out LBW off Theekshana two balls later.
Hasaranga was looking for boundaries as he smashed a couple of sixes off Theekshana in the 16th over before losing veteran Mathews (25 off 27), who was struggling to get going.
The Falcons skipper notched up a fine half-century, smashing an unbeaten 65 off just 32 balls, including seven fours and three sixes, which helped his side finish on 175 after losing seven wickets.
On the bowling front, Udana bagged three wickets for 30 in his four-over spell, while Zahoor Khan also impressed again with figures of 2/29.
After hitting him for three boundaries earlier, Shoriful bounced back to dismiss Dickwella in the very first over. However, there was no stopping Hales and Seifert as they took the opposition bowlers to the cleaners.
They recorded the highest powerplay score in LPL history, smashing 89 runs, including a 27-run over off Hasaranga. A 79-run stand between the duo came to an end when Hasaranga dismissed Hales (38 off 19) courtesy of a good catch by young Rathnayake near the boundary ropes.
Rajapaksa and Liyanage departed very cheaply, but the Kiwi batter continued from where he left off the other day to claim another half-century. His sparkling innings of 82 off 49 balls helped the Marvels race towards the target with 17 balls remaining.
Udana was named Player of the Match for his impactful bowling as Galle Marvels bounced back to secure their third win, while Kandy Falcons lost their third in a row.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinesh Chandimal | c Bhanuka Rajapaksa b Dwaine Pretorius | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Andre Fletcher | lbw b Maheesh Theekshana | 50 | 36 | 4 | 2 | 138.89 |
| Mohammad Haris | lbw b Isuru Udana | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Kamindu Mendis | c Bhanuka Rajapaksa b Isuru Udana | 10 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Pavan Rathnayake | c Kavindu Nadeeshan b Isuru Udana | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Angelo Mathews | c & b Zahoor Khan | 25 | 27 | 2 | 0 | 92.59 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | not out | 65 | 32 | 7 | 3 | 203.12 |
| Dasun Shanaka | b Zahoor Khan | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 225.00 |
| Dushmantha Chameera | not out | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 166.67 |
| Extras | 10 (b 0 , lb 3 , nb 0, w 7, pen 0) |
| Total | 175/7 (20 Overs, RR: 8.75) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dwaine Pretorius | 4 | 0 | 40 | 1 | 10.00 | |
| Isuru Udana | 4 | 0 | 30 | 3 | 7.50 | |
| Zahoor Khan | 4 | 0 | 29 | 2 | 7.25 | |
| Kavindu Nadeeshan | 2 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 12.00 | |
| Maheesh Theekshana | 4 | 0 | 32 | 1 | 8.00 | |
| Janith Liyanage | 2 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 8.50 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niroshan Dickwella | c Andre Fletcher b Shoriful Islam | 12 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 200.00 |
| Alex Hales | c Pavan Rathnayake b Wanindu Hasaranga | 38 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 200.00 |
| Tim Seifert | not out | 82 | 49 | 11 | 2 | 167.35 |
| Bhanuka Rajapaksa | b Shoriful Islam | 16 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 123.08 |
| Janith Liyanage | st Dinesh Chandimal b Lakshan Sandakan | 11 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 157.14 |
| Sahan Arachchige | not out | 9 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 8 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 7, pen 0) |
| Total | 176/4 (17.1 Overs, RR: 10.25) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoriful Islam | 4 | 0 | 32 | 2 | 8.00 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 1.1 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 17.27 | |
| Dushmantha Chameera | 4 | 0 | 42 | 0 | 10.50 | |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 4 | 0 | 36 | 1 | 9.00 | |
| Lakshan Sandakan | 4 | 0 | 46 | 1 | 11.50 | |
