Match Details
The tournament has now entered the business end as it’s only a matter of days before the Final takes place. Join us tomorrow for yet another doubleheader. Goodbye for now!
Dasun Shanaka (Dambulla Aura Captain): “We gave our hundred percent today and the boys prepared well leading up to today’s game. We were mentally prepared as well for this fixture. Cox and Daniel were outstanding today.”
Pakistan right-handed Asad Shafiq joined forces with Lahiru Udara to construct a 41-run partnership before Pramod Madushan bamboozled Shafiq 28(14), including 3 fours and 2 maximum with a back-of-a-length delivery. Nuwanidu Fernando, the next man in, echoed his confidence with the bat before being a victim of a mix-up.
The right-handed Lahiru Udara kept rotating the strike but he was lacking a partner as Galle kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Eventually, Udara succumbed to pressure at the stroke of the 12th over and orchestrated a run-a-ball 32, with four boundaries to his credit.
As far as the Dambulla bowlers are concerned, Pramod Madushan spearheaded the bowling attack and attained 3 scalps by giving away 17 runs. The Zimbabwe off-spinner Sikandar Raza captured two crucial wickets at the backend while Dasun Shanaka, Noor Ahmad, Matthew Forde, and Dilum Sudeera all accumulated a wicket each.
Earlier in the day, after winning the toss and electing to bat first, Dambulla Aura posted 178/5 on board. Dambulla openers Shevon Daniel and Jordan Cox played single-minded strokes in the first four overs before the duo stitched 17 runs off Nuwan Pradeep’s 5th over.
Since then, the Galle bowlers delivered loose length and the left-right duo of Cox and Shevon kept toiling them. The duo registered a 163-run opening partnership, which was the highest by any Dambulla pair. Nuwan Pradeep finally broke the partnership as Shevon Daniel departed for 80 (55), including 5 fours and 5 maximums, and that was soon followed by another massive scalp of right-handed 77(58), including 6 fours and 3 maximums.
Stick around for the post-match presentation!