Tim Seifert’s brilliant hundred ended up in the losing side as Azmatullah Omarzai led Jaffna Kings to their 2nd straight win, beating Galle Marvels by 5 wickets in the 6th match of the LPL 2024, played at Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium.
Jaffna Kings got a good start after being decided to bowl first when the dangerous openers of Galle Marvels were not able to get going this time as Pramod Madushan and Azmatullah Omarzai castled Dickwella (12 off 9) and Hales (23 off 19), respectively.
Rajapaksa and Seifert added 69 runs for the 3rd wicket before Fabian Allen bounced back to dismiss the left hander (28 off 21) after hitting him for a six. After getting a slow start, Seifert had a move on, smashing 29 during the Power Blast overs in 16th & 17th.
He continued to take on the bowlers to register his maiden LPL hundred, coming off just 62 balls and helped the Marvels to finish on 187/5. The kiwi batter stroked an unbeaten 104 runs including 12 fours & 6 sixes.
The Kings lost the early wicket of Nissanka (12 off 11), but Mendis and Rossouw went hard at the bowlers. Udana provided the timely wicket as Mendis (30 off 16) got dismissed in the final over of the powerplay.
Rossouw brought up his maiden LPL half-century and kept Jaffna alive, despite losing Fernando and Ross cheaply. Zahoor Khan bowled a brilliant 17th over and also dismissed the well-set Proteas batter for 67.
When the Kings required 43 off 18 balls, Omarzai stood tall and piloted the chase with a 13-ball 35 undefeated runs as Jaffna Kings chased down the target with 2 balls remaining.
Omarzai won the Player of the Match award for his superb all-round performance. Accordingly, the 3-time champions made it two wins in two games and climbed to the top of the Points Table after losing their campaign opener to the same opposition a few days ago.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niroshan Dickwella | b Pramod Madushan | 12 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 133.33 |
| Alex Hales | b Azmatullah Omarzai | 23 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 121.05 |
| Tim Seifert | not out | 104 | 63 | 12 | 6 | 165.08 |
| Bhanuka Rajapaksa | c Pathum Nissanka b Fabian Allen | 28 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 147.37 |
| Sahan Arachchige | c Kusal Mendis b Azmatullah Omarzai | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 66.67 |
| Janith Liyanage | run out (Avishka Fernando) | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 120.00 |
| Dwaine Pretorius | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 12 (b 0 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 11, pen 0) |
| Total | 187/5 (20 Overs, RR: 9.35) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pramod Madushan | 4 | 0 | 36 | 1 | 9.00 | |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | 4 | 0 | 33 | 2 | 8.25 | |
| Asitha Fernando | 4 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 10.00 | |
| Charith Asalanka | 2 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 8.00 | |
| Vijayakanth Viyaskanth | 2 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 9.50 | |
| Fabian Allen | 4 | 0 | 42 | 1 | 10.50 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Alex Hales b Zahoor Khan | 12 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 109.09 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Maheesh Theekshana b Isuru Udana | 30 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 187.50 |
| Rilee Rossouw | c Janith Liyanage b Zahoor Khan | 67 | 42 | 8 | 3 | 159.52 |
| Avishka Fernando | c Sahan Arachchige b Dwaine Pretorius | 14 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 127.27 |
| Alex Ross | b Maheesh Theekshana | 13 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 76.47 |
| Charith Asalanka | not out | 14 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 175.00 |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | not out | 35 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 269.23 |
| Extras | 6 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 4, pen 0) |
| Total | 191/5 (19.4 Overs, RR: 9.71) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dwaine Pretorius | 4 | 0 | 34 | 1 | 8.50 | |
| Isuru Udana | 4 | 0 | 42 | 1 | 10.50 | |
| Zahoor Khan | 4 | 0 | 33 | 2 | 8.25 | |
| Maheesh Theekshana | 4 | 0 | 29 | 1 | 7.25 | |
| Sahan Arachchige | 1.4 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 17.86 | |
| Malsha Tharupathi | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 15.00 | |
| Janith Liyanage | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 11.00 | |
