Dimuth scores ton, Kandy in mammoth chase
Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis led Colombo’s resurgence against Dambulla on day three of the National Super League tournament at Pallekele Stadium yesterday. The former Test skipper scored 161, including 15 boundaries, and had two significant partnerships — first a 148-run stand with Mendis, who made 80 with 12 boundaries, and then a 73-run partnership with Nuwanidu Fernando, who contributed 39 runs. Colombo, starting the day at 98 for 1, ended day three at 388 for 7 in response to Dambulla’s 530 runs.
In the other match played at Sooriyawewa Stadium, Jaffna had Kandy in trouble at 47 for 2, chasing a target of 394 runs for victory. Jaffna, resuming at 6 for no loss, made 234 runs in their second innings, with Nipun Karunanayake top scoring 60. Kandy will need 347 runs to win on the final day.
| Brief Scores | |
Dambulla 530 all out (153) (Angelo Mathews 146, Pawan Ratnayake 130, Kamindu Mendis 115, Leo Francisco 87; Isitha Wijesundara 3/69, Lakshitha Manasinghe 3/129, Prabath Jayasuriya 2/103) Colombo (98/1 overnight) 388 for 7 (106) at stumps (Dimuth Karunaratne 161, Kusal Mendis 80, Nuwanidu Fernando 39, Pathum Kumara 39, Shevon Daniel 22; Vishwa Fernando 2/69)
Jaffna 346 all out (104.3) (Dhananjaya de Silva 113, Lahiru Madusanka 67, Janaka Liyanage 63, Nishan Madushka 38; Chamika Karunaratne 3/51, Chamika Gunasekera 2/42, Ashian Daniel 2/66, Lasith Embuldeniya 2/103) and 234 all out (68) (Nipun Karunanayake 60, Hasitha Boyagoda 42, Dhananjaya de Silva 37, Ravindu Fernando 22; Chamika Gunasekera 3/43, Sithum Dissanayake 2/21, Chamika Karunaratne 2/31, Lasith Embuldeniya 2/88) Kandy 185 all out (67.1) (Ahan Wickramasinghe 51, Chamika Gunasekera 29, Chamika Karunaratne 25, Lahiru Udara 23, Sahan Arachchige 22; Jeffrey Vandersay 4/49, Pramod Madushan 2/25, Shashika Dulshan 2/46) and 47 for 2 (17) at stumps (Lahiru Udara 25) |