(UTV|COLOMBO) – Sri Lanka Test captain Dimuth Karunaratne further enhanced his chances of getting into the World Cup squad of 15 with another noteworthy knock of 86 off 74 balls (9 fours) to steer Kandy to a seven wickets win over Dambulla in the final Super Four Provincial limited over league match played at Rangiri Dambulla Stadium yesterday.
Dambulla opting to bat first after winning the toss could rack up only 198 off 44.5 overs where only Oshada Fernando and Angelo Mathews got into the forties. Thisara Perera was the chief wrecker of the Dambulla batting taking four wickets for 25.
Kandy spearheaded by Karunaratne’s steady innings and supported by an unbeaten half century from Pathum Nissanka (51 off 47 balls) coasted to their target with plenty of overs in hand in the 32nd over to record their first win in the tournament.
Dambulla finished the preliminary round without a single win losing all three games.
In the other match that had no bearing on the standings Colombo and Galle who are both through to the final figured in a no-result at Pallekele with rain allowing only 7.1 overs to be bowled during Colombo’s run chase for 259 runs.
Sri Lanka spinner Akila Dananjaya took five wickets for 53 for Colombo.
Galle skipper Lasith Malinga stood from the match and Lahiru Thirimanne led the side.
RESULTS:
* At Dambulla: Kandy won by 7 wickets.
Dambulla 198 in 44.5 overs (Oshada Fernando 44, Bhanuka Rajapaksa 27, Angelo Mathews 47, Ashan Priyanjan 24, Thisara Perera 4/25, Jeffrey Vandersay 2/40)
Kandy 199-3 in 31.3 overs (Dimuth Karunaratne 86, Sangeeth Cooray 33, Pathum Nissanka 51 n.o.)
* Pallekele: No Result.
Galle 258-9 in 50 overs (Dhananjaya de Silva 34, Minod Bhanuka 37, Wanindu Hasaranga 56, Lahiru Madushanka 42, Dushmantha Chameera 23, Chamika Karunaratne 2/48, Akila Dananjaya 5/53)
Colombo 55-0 in 7.1 overs (Asitha Fernando 27 n.o.)
Courtesy: DN
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