St. Joseph’s given a fright by Pathana, but squeeze through to quarters
St. Joseph’s was given a fright in pursuit of a simple run chase of 103 runs in the pre-quarter final encounter against Isipathana as they underwent some anxious moments before squeezing through to a close two wicket at Darley Road to book their berth to the quarter-finals.
Isipathana batsman Isuru Sandavan is stumped by St. Joseph's wicketkeeper Shenal Fonseka off Ishan Rupasinghe (not in picture) - Pic by Ranjith Perera
The Josephians were making steady progress having resumed on 16 for 2 after the lunch break but a rush of blood by their batsmen saw them losing wickets at regular intervals as they slid to 94 for 7.
A patient innings of 31 by Dunith Wellalage gave the home side some relief which enabled them to reach the target in the 25th. over.
Earlier in the day saw Isipathana taking first lease of the wicket were made to dig for their runs as the Josephian bowlers had them bogged down. They fell into deep trouble and the top order batting crumbled to the bowling trio Ashan de Alwis, Miranga Wickramage and Yesith Rupasinghe.
The trio shared seven wickets between them as Isipathana plodded for 46.3 overs before being bundled out for a paltry 102 which was not going to be sufficient to defend.
Two pre-quarter final matches are down for decision tomorrow with Mahinda meeting Prince of Wales at Galle Stadium and Gurukula MV Kelaniya clashing with Royal at the Mahara Prison ground.
- Isipathana 102 in 46.3 overs (Lomitha Ravindith 15, Yasiru Kasthuriarachchi 23 n.o.: Ashan de Alwis 3 for 16, Miranga Wickramage 2 for 13, Yesith Rupasinghe 2 for 15)
- St. Joseph’s 103 for 8 in 24.2 overs (Dunith Wellalage 31: Thevindu Dickwella 2 for 10)