Dambulla made to struggle on first day

By M. Shamil Amit

Dambulla were made to struggle for their runs by Colombo on day one of the four-day National Super League cricket tournament final played at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Dambulla winning the toss and electing to take first lease of the wicket lost two early wickets with the score on 33.

Pavan Ratnayake and skipper Dhananjaya de Silva came to their rescue with the pair sharing 50 runs for the third wicket but the separation of the duo saw them losing two quick wickets and were struggling on 85 for 4.

Sonal Dinusha who made a top score of 51 began a recovery act by associating in two valuable partnerships first of 45 runs for the fifth wicket with Vishad Randika and 53 runs for the sixth wicket with Anjala Bandara.

But again they lost three quick wickets for the addition of just 27 runs as they slid from 183 for 6 to 210 for 9 before making a declaration with the score on 222 for 9.

Dhananjaya Lakshan and Janith Liyanage together shared four wickets and did the early damage while left arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya who ended with a four wicket haul wrecked the late order batting.

Colombo in their turn too underwent the same fate as they lost the first two wickets in the first over with one run on the board before bad light stopped play with Colombo on 12 for 2 having faced 5.3 overs.

Scores:

Dambulla 222 for 9 declared (Sonal Dinusha 51, Anjala Bandara 40, Pavan Ratnayake 39, Vishad Randika 23, Lasith Croospulle 16, Dhananjaya de Silva 15: Prabath Jayasuirya 4/54, Janith Liyanage 2/18, Dhananjaya Lakshan 2/42) Colombo 12 for 2