South Africa cap No.3 batter Rilee Rossouw (106 n.o.) and Sri Lanka ODI captain Kusal Mendis (72 n.o.), shared a stunning unbroken 185-run stand for the second wicket as Jaffna Kings thumped Galle Marvels by 9-wickets in the LPL final played at R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium yesterday (21).
Set a challenging 185 to win the Kings romped to their target with 26 deliveries to spare and without breaking sweat thanks to the fireworks from Rossouw and Mendis. The South African’s blitz which came off 53-balls was spiced with nine fours and seven towering sixes as he took the Galle bowlers to the cleaners in the company of opener Mendis. The partnership between Mendis and one-drop batter Rossouw simply knocked the stuffing out of the Galle bowlers as they tried to separate the duo but to no avail. The Sri Lanka ODI captain’s knock came off 40-balls and included eight boundaries and two sixes as the Kings top-order pair steered their franchise to a convincing win before a partisan crowd last night. For Galle all bowlers tried by skipper Niroshan Dickwella failed to deliver on the day in the face of the batting masterclass from Rossouw and Mendis.
Middle-order batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa cracked a 34-ball 82 to propel Galle Marvels to 184/6 after being inserted by Jaffna Kings. The Marvels were reeling at 3-24, at one stage after which Rajapaksa in the company of Kiwi Tim Seifert (47) added 64-runs for the fourth wicket to revive the innings. Rajapaksa’s sparkling knock was studded with eight fours and six maximums as he pummelled the Kings bowlers to all corners of the ground. New Zealand international Seifert also gave him able support from the other end as he too chipped in with a 37-ball 42 inclusive of two boundaries and four sixes to enable the Marvels to post a competitive score in their allotted 20 overs after the early hiccups. For the Kings pacer Asitha Fernando impressed with figures of 3-35 while new-ball bowler Australian left-arm quick Jason Behrendorff returned figures of 2-18. For the Marvels the failure of top-order batters overseas recruit Alex Hales, Niroshan Dickwella and Janith Liyanage to fire pegged them back, but Rajapaksa and Seifert managed to turn around their innings in timely fashion to set up a steep chase for their rivals to win the title.
Player-of-the-Match Rilee Rossouw.
(JK)