Alex Hales guided the Galle Marvels to their fourth victory of the season, beating the Kandy Falcons by 8 wickets.
Galle Marvels’ skipper Niroshan Dickwella won his third consecutive toss and elected to bowl, as every other team has done this season. Winning the toss has directly impacted the team’s results for most of the teams this season.
Kandy Falcon’s openers made a start that made Dickwella second think of his decision. Both the batters took off the blocks in fifth gear from the word go. The Falcons got to fifty in just 4.1 overs putting the Marvels in the backfoot. Dinesh Chandimal continued his form he has been showing throughout this season. Chandimal scored 32 off just 14 deliveries.
Andre Fletcher resumed the onslaught by continuing to score over 160 to score an impressive 69 off 43. Since Chandimal’s wicket, runs have been flowing from one end, but wickets have been falling at regular intervals. Other than Angelo Mathews, no other middle-order batter could make a major impact on the game for the Falcons.
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With Mathews falling for 29, the Falcons lost their next three wickets for just 4 runs, sending Andre Fletcher, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Dasun Shanaka back to the pavilion. Prabath Jayasuriya, playing his first game of the season, grabbed the important wickets of Andre Fletcher and Wanindu Hasaranga to top off his earlier scalp of Dinesh Chandimal. Prabath Jayasuriya was the pick of the bowlers for the mArvels ending with figures of 3 for 30 in his four overs.
With a cluster of wickets falling, the Falcons lost all the momentum they had. However, with the help of Ramesh Mendis scoring a valuable 28 in the backend of the innings, the Falcons crawled to 187 for the loss of 9 wickets in their 20 overs.
With the momentum shift the Marvels had in the backend of their bowling innings, the Marvels’ openers got off to a flyer. Englishman Alex Hales was a man on a mission, looking to capitalize on anything loose. As a result, the Falcons’ bowlers played into their opposition’s hands by not being at their best with the ball. Alex Hales scored an unbeaten 86 which included seven 4s and five 6s.
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Despite Bhanuka Rajapaksha showing some lack of form throughout the Lanka Premier League, he found his groove by striking some gorgeous shots all over the park. Rajapaksha saw the Marvels over the line by scoring the winning runs.
Even though the Falcons took the game to the last over, the Kandy bowlers didn’t pose much of a threat throughout the day. The Marvels’ batters showed total control of the run chase, with Alex Hales leading the troops
Brief Scores:
Kandy Falcons 187/9 (20) Andre Fletcher 69, Angelo Mathews 29, Ramesh Mendis 28, Prabath Jayasuriya 3/30, Dwaine Pretorius 2/37
Galle Marvels 188/2 (19.2) Alex Hales 86*, Bhanuka Rajapaksha 46*, Niroshan Dickwella 25, Andre Fletcher 1/11, Wanindu Hasaranga 1/29
Result – Galle Marvels won by 8 wickets
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andre Fletcher | lbw b prabath jayasuriya | 69 | 43 | 6 | 4 | 160.47 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | c Niroshan Dickwella b prabath jayasuriya | 32 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 228.57 |
| Mohammad Haris | lbw b Maheesh Theekshana | 8 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 114.29 |
| Kamindu Mendis | c Sahan Arachchige b Isuru Udana | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Alex Hales b Dwaine Pretorius | 29 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 193.33 |
| Dasun Shanaka | c Alex Hales b Kavindu Nadeeshan | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | b prabath jayasuriya | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Ramesh Mendis | c Sahan Arachchige b Dwaine Pretorius | 28 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 200.00 |
| Kavindu Pathiratne | not out | 7 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 53.85 |
| Kasun Rajitha | run out (Niroshan Dickwella) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Shoriful Islam | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 4 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 2, pen 0) |
| Total | 187/9 (20 Overs, RR: 9.35) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dwaine Pretorius | 4 | 0 | 37 | 2 | 9.25 | |
| Isuru Udana | 4 | 0 | 43 | 1 | 10.75 | |
| Maheesh Theekshana | 4 | 0 | 41 | 1 | 10.25 | |
| prabath jayasuriya | 4 | 0 | 30 | 3 | 7.50 | |
| Kavindu Nadeeshan | 4 | 0 | 34 | 1 | 8.50 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niroshan Dickwella | c & b Wanindu Hasaranga | 25 | 22 | 2 | 1 | 113.64 |
| Alex Hales | not out | 86 | 55 | 7 | 4 | 156.36 |
| Tim Seifert | c Kamindu Mendis b Andre Fletcher | 16 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 123.08 |
| Bhanuka Rajapaksa | not out | 46 | 26 | 5 | 2 | 176.92 |
| Extras | 15 (b 0 , lb 3 , nb 0, w 12, pen 0) |
| Total | 188/2 (19.2 Overs, RR: 9.72) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoriful Islam | 2 | 0 | 29 | 0 | 14.50 | |
| Kasun Rajitha | 2 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 14.00 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 2 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 7.50 | |
| Ramesh Mendis | 3.2 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 10.62 | |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 4 | 0 | 29 | 1 | 7.25 | |
| Kamindu Mendis | 4 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 9.75 | |
| Andre Fletcher | 2 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 5.50 | |
