Historic 4-day pink ball matches of the Super Provincial four day cricket tournament concluded today with the Galle team and Kandy teams claiming first innings points in drawn games.
Dambulla vs Galle
The encounter between Dambulla and Kandy concluded today at Dambulla International Cricket Stadium as a drawn game but the first innings points were won by the Galle team.
Overnight batsmen Ashan Priyanjan and Sachithra Serasinghe resumed Dambulla’s second innings at 138 for 2. They continued to pile runs on the board and added another 65 runs to their partnership today before Priyanjan was trapped in front by right arm seamer Nisala Tharaka for well-made 95 runs.
Then left hander Milinda Siriwardene and Sachithra Serasinghe put on a 80-run partnership for the fourth wicket as the former was dismissed by Nisala Tharaka for 37 runs. Serasinghe kept losing partners at the other end as Tharaka continued to trouble Dambulla batsmen with quality seam bowling.
Dambulla skipper Karunarathne decided to declare the innings at 325 for 7 and set a target of 315 runs for the Galle team to chase. Sachithra Serasinghe stroked 112 runs off 207 balls which included 13 boundaries. Nisala Tharaka was the pick of the bowlers for the Galle team as he took 5 wickets for 65 runs.
After the dinner break, Galle team began their chase as Lahiru Milantha and Madawa Warnapura opened the innings and built a 42-run partnership before the former was dismissed by seamer Lahiru Madushanka for 25 runs. Number three batsman Upul Tharanga could not hang on for long as he was clean bowled by Madushanka for just 4 runs.
At the beginning of the last hour of play, both captains decided to call off the match as a result is not possible for both sides.
Kandy vs Colombo
The encounter between Kandy and Colombo played at Hambanthota International Cricket Stadium was largely affected by heavy rain but Kandy team won first innings points in the drawn game.
Match was scheduled to commence at 1.45 pm but heavy rain interrupted play for around 4 hours. After inspecting the ground conditions, umpires decided to resume the match at 5.00 pm as overnight batsmen Mahela Udawatthe and Niroshan Dickwella resumed day four at 55 for 2.
However, Mahela Udawatthe could stay at the crease for only three overs as off spinner Shehan Jayasuriya dismissed him for 41 runs. The rain stopped play again at 5.20 pm only after 4 overs being bowled for the day. After two hours of wait, umpires decided to call of the day at 7.20pm.
