The 2nd encounter of the SLC Invitational League Day 1 saw the SLC Greens, captained by national white ball Skipper Dasun Shanaka, taking on SLC Blues captained by Charith Asalanka. In an encounter dominated by the bowlers, only 212 runs were scored as the Blues defended their total of 122 by 32 runs.
The SLC Blues, who won the toss, decided to bat first, hoping to set a good target for their bowlers to defend. After losing two early wickets, Asalanka (23) and Dhananjaya de Silva (14) looked to stabilize their innings, but the pair could only put together a 24-run stand.
After the departure of the two experienced batters, the Greens bowlers who were led by Jeffrey Vandersay, took complete control of the game as the Blues were struggling big time at 71/8. However, Ashen Bandara, one of the best middle order accumulators in Sri Lanka, managed to compile a priceless 40-run stand off 41 deliveries with Kasun Rajitha, who scored a valuable 19. Thanks to this partnership, the Blues managed to recover from the earlier debacle and got to 122 off their 20 overs.
Bandara top-scored for the Blues with an unbeaten knock of 37 off 34 deliveries, which included 2 fours and a six. For the Greens, Jeffrey Vandersay was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 wickets for 12 runs in his 4 overs.
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The Greens who came out to bat hoping to chase down this below par target, lost their way completely during the powerplay as Dilshan Madushanka was too good with an exhibition of top class left arm swing bowling. His peach of a delivery to remove Nuwanidu Fernando, which was almost a carbon copy of Shaheen Afridi dismissing KL Rahul at the previous T20 World Cup, was a treat to watch. After losing 4 wickets inside the first 10 overs, the game was slowly drifting away from the Greens.
Greens’ Skipper Dasun Shanaka tried to dig in deep and take the match right down the wire with a fighting knock of 37 off 39, but unfortunately was unable to get any support at all from the other end. After his dismissal, the tail never had any chance against the high quality bowling by Blues as they were bundled out for 90, 32 runs short of the target.
Madushanka’s 2 for 22 was the clear highlight of the day, while Praveen Jayawickrama, who got axed from the test side due to poor form, looked much better today and managed to take 2 for 16.
With this win, the Blues leapfrogged the Reds to end Day 1 in the top spot thanks to their superior net run rate. The next double header of the tournament will be on Wednesday, 10th of August.
3.00PM Encounter – Greens Vs Reds
7.30PM Encounter – Blues Vs Greys
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danushka Gunathilaka | c Dasun Shanaka b Nuwan Thushara | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | c Lakshan Sandakan b Binura Fernando | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 9.09 |
| Charith Asalanka | c Ramesh Mendis b Pathum Nissanka | 23 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 164.29 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c Niroshan Dickwella b Jeffrey Vandersay | 14 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 140.00 |
| Ashen Bandara | not out | 37 | 34 | 2 | 1 | 108.82 |
| Chamika Karunaratne | c Lakshan Sandakan b Jeffrey Vandersay | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Suminda Lakshan | c Lakshan Sandakan b Binura Fernando | 10 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 71.43 |
| Pramod Madushan | run out (Niroshan Dickwella) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Praveen Jayawickrama | Jeffrey Vandersay b Jeffrey Vandersay | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Kasun Rajitha | c Lakshan Sandakan b Jeffrey Vandersay | 19 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 76.00 |
| Dilshan Madushanka | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 14 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 0, w 10, pen 0) |
| Total | 122/9 (20 Overs, RR: 6.1) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binura Fernando | 4 | 1 | 23 | 1 | 5.75 | |
| Nuwan Thushara | 4 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 6.50 | |
| Ramesh Mendis | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 6.50 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 13.00 | |
| Jeffrey Vandersay | 4 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 3.00 | |
| Lakshan Sandakan | 4 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 6.50 | |
| Dhananjaya Lakshan | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 5.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Kasun Rajitha b Suminda Lakshan | 16 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 61.54 |
| Niroshan Dickwella | b Dhananjaya de Silva | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Nuwanidu Fernando | lbw b Dilshan Madushanka | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | c Charith Asalanka b Kasun Rajitha | 11 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Dhananjaya Lakshan | b Dilshan Madushanka | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Dasun Shanaka | c Ashen Bandara b Suminda Lakshan | 37 | 39 | 3 | 0 | 94.87 |
| Ramesh Mendis | st Sadeera Samarawickrama b Praveen Jayawickrama | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Jeffrey Vandersay | b Praveen Jayawickrama | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Binura Fernando | run out (Ashen Bandara) | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 42.86 |
| Lakshan Sandakan | c Pramod Madushan b Chamika Karunaratne | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
| Nuwan Thushara | not out | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 233.33 |
| Extras | 4 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 1, w 1, pen 0) |
| Total | 90/10 (18.3 Overs, RR: 4.86) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3.00 | |
| Dilshan Madushanka | 4 | 0 | 22 | 2 | 5.50 | |
| Praveen Jayawickrama | 4 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 4.00 | |
| Kasun Rajitha | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2.00 | |
| Chamika Karunaratne | 2.3 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 6.96 | |
| Suminda Lakshan | 4 | 0 | 22 | 2 | 5.50 | |
| Pramod Madushan | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5.00 | |
