Gamage, Udana and Rajitha star on day three

The third day of the two 4-day pink ball matches of the Super Provincial four day cricket tournament were conducted today at Dambulla and Hambanthota.

Dambulla vs Galle

The encounter between Dambulla and Kandy conduced today at Dambulla International Cricket Stadium for day three. The match was scheduled to commence at 2.00 pm but umpires decided to start 15 minutes earlier to recover the time lost due to heavy rain yesterday.

Galle batsmen Madawa Warnapura and Upul Tharanga resumed day three on 50 for 2, but the former could not stay longer at the crease as right arm seamer Lahiru Gamage struck in the very first over of the day removing him for 21 runs. Stylish right hander Sadeera Samarawickrama then joined Upul Tharanga and built a 27-run partnership for the fourth wicket before being dismissed by off spinner Sachithra Senanayake for 25 runs.

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Galle batsmen struggled to build big partnerships in the middle and at one stage were 90 for 5. However, skipper Dasun Shanaka and in-form batsman Roshen Silva who put on a massive 202-run partnership in the last game, built another valuable 76 run partnership for the sixth wicket.

Lahiru Gamage clean bowled both the batsmen with his unplayable in-swinging deliveries. Roshen Silva who scored a double ton last week stroked 44 runs off 82 balls and skipper Dasun Shanaka who scored 95 in the last game against Colombo stroked 32 runs off 71 balls.

After their dismissals, left hander Chaturanga de Silva and right hander Nisala Tharaka showed some resistance with the bat scoring 74 runs for the eighth wicket. Chathuranga de Silva who missed a half-ton in the last game made 54 runs off 45 balls at a strike rate of 120.

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Seamer Lahiru Gamage was very impressive with the ball and picked up 5 wickets for 78 runs while experienced campaigner Rangana Herath grabbed 2 wickets for 42 runs for Dambulla team. Lads form Galle resumed their second innings 11 runs behind and in the very second over they lost the skipper Karunarathne for 0.

However, opener Kusal Mendis and number three batsman Ashan Priyanjan put on a 62-run partnership for the second wicket as the former was dismissed for 26 runs.  Sachithra Serasinghe (29) then joined Priyanjan (67) at the crease and built an unbeaten 76-run partnership for the third wicket as umpires called stumps on day three at 138 for 2.

Kandy vs Colombo

The encounter between Kandy and Colombo conduced today at Hambanthota International Cricket Stadium for day three. Colombo openers Shehan Jayasuriya and Kaushal Silva resumed their innings and built valuable 62-run partnership for the first wicket. Dashing left hander Jayasuriya was the first to be dismissed on day three for 26 runs.

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Dananjaya de Silva who scored 66 runs in the last game against Galle, joined Kaushal Silva but they could not bat longer as the latter was caught by Jeewan Mendis off the bowling of left arm seamer Isuru Udana for 26 runs. De Silva was trapped in front by left arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya for just 2 runs.

Lahiru Thirimanne, the centurion of the last game against Galle and skipper Dinesh Chandimal joined at 75 for 3 and built 18-run partnership for the fourth wicket before heavy rain stopped play. The match resumed at 7.50 pm and straight after the break Thirimanne was clean bowled by Kasun Rajitha for 21 runs.

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Kasun Rajitha and Isuru Udana continued to trouble the batsmen as Colombo team collapsed from 93 for 3 for 138 for 9 before they strangely declared the innings. Kasun Rajitha and Isuru Udana picked up 4 wickets each for Kandy team.

The lads from Kandy began their second innings with a 132-run lead but lost two quick wickets for 18 runs. However, opening batsman Mahela Udawatthe and skipper Niroshan Dickwella steadied the innings and finished day three at 55 for 2.