After an opening day where bowlers dominated, day 02 was a much better one with the batters getting runs under their belt as the first double century of the tournament was also scored.
After dismissing Colombo for 214, Kandy batters stamped their authority on day 02 as they dispatched the opposition bowlers to all parts of the ground. The two overnight batters Oshadha Fernando and Sandun Weerakkody continued from where they left off as the 3rd wicket partnership grew rapidly. The pair managed to put together a 246-run partnership before Weerakkody who scored a quick-fire century got dismissed for 144 from 154 balls.
Fernando who continued punishing the Colombo bowlers reached a well-deserved half-century as Kandy sailed along smoothly. Nisala Tharaka took the prize wicket of Fernando to remove him for a magnificent 201. Youngster Ahan Wickramasinghe who stitched together a 136-run stand with Fernando, took the team to stumps as the scoreboard read 554/7. Wickramasinghe was unbeaten on 99 at the stumps.
Every Colombo bowler conceded runs above a rate of 4 as only Nisala Tharaka took more than 1 wicket, taking 3 for 106 but that also in 21 overs. Sri Lanka’s best spinner of 2022 in the international test arena Prabath Jayasuriya conceded a mammoth 169 runs in 29 overs as he had an off day. With 2 days to go, Colombo will have a tough task in hand to save this game.
Colombo – 214 (Prabath Jayasuriya 51, Nisala Tharaka 38, Lasith Embuldeniya 5/60, Nimsara Atharagalla 4/62)
Kandy – 554/7 (Oshadha Fernando 201, Sandun Weerakkody 144, Ahan Wickramasinghe 99*, Nisala Tharaka 3/106)
In the other NSL clash of the week between Galle and Dambulla, Galle resumed their innings on 90 for 3 in reply to Dambulla’s 1st innings total of 155. From the overnight batters, Pasindu Sooriyabandara departed early and Angelo Mathews carried on to make a solid 82 but unfortunately missed out on a century. After the dismissal of Mathews, skipper Ramesh Mendis and Kavishka Anjula stitched a 109-run stand to extend the lead of Galle. Mendis made 60 with the bat in hand while Anjula who took a 5-wicket haul on day 1 made 69 as Galle passed the 300-run mark to end on 339 with a lead of 184.
For Dambulla, the opening bowling duo of Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando took 3 wickets each while Chalana de Silva also chipped in with 2 wickets.
Trailing by 184, Dambulla began their 2nd innings on the back foot as Gayan Maneesha departed for a duck. Their other opening batter Nimesh Gunasinghe also got out for 29 as Dambulla were in a spot of bother at stumps on day 2 with the score on 47/2 as they are still 137 runs behind.
Dambulla – 155 (Nimesh Gunasinghe 31, Kavishka Anjula 5/23, Ramesh Mendis 2/11)
Galle – 339 (Angelo Mathews 82, Kavishka Anjula 69, Ramesh Mendis 60, Asitha Fernando 3/70, Vishwa Fernando 3/75)
