SERENDIB CRICKET

On a day that mostly will be going his way, new captain Shiron Dharshana won the toss, and opted to bat under wonderful sunny conditions perfect for a whole day of cricket. Disaster stuck in the first ball of the second over when Nicholas Shannon got opener Jayathura Samarakoon out L.B.W, and again in the first ball of the third over when the other opener Duminda Wickramaratne holed into square leg of the bowling of Arbab Mohammed, leaving the score at 12 for 2. Sachintha Gurudeniya and Lasith Rathnamalala had just started the recovery process when Shannon bowled Lasith when the score was at 37, and then got Shiron caught behind without any addition to the score. Asankha Pallegedara the new batsman was the next to go at 54, and Tharaka Pathberiya was run out at 78. However, Sachintha, whose wonderful shots had been overlooked due to the quick succession of wickets, was joined by Amesh Weerasinghe, whose hard hitting can turn any game on it's head in a matter of minutes. Together they started rebuilding the Serendib innings, both batting with positive intent, and taking the game back to the Kytes. Sachintha proved that he not only has the physique of former Sri Lankan Skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, but also Ranatunga's uncanny ability to nudge singles and boundaries when needed. Although he scored runs all over the place, the boundary scored by a nudge through to third-man must be easily the shot of the day. To the Kytes's relief Amesh was finally out for 38 in just 50 balls, but not before he had managed to break a bat with his hard hitting, and if I may say, also the morale of the bowlers. The score was 151/7 in the 33rd over and Serendib knew that a huge score was in the cards if they batted through the overs. Dharshana Janakaratne chipped in with a valuable 19 in only 17 balls, and when Sachintha was unlucky to miss a century and was the last man to go for 91, Kytes were left with a massive target of 192.

Apart from a 24 run partnership between Suresh Navod and Kytes's skipper Neil Harrison, and a 32 run partnership between Suresh and Dinesh Lakmal, the Serendib bowlers were not bothered much, and Kytes were all out for 139 in just 26.1 overs. Asankha Pallegedara had the best bowling figures, 21/4.