Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

GD Phillips
70(43) 6x4 - 3x6
Control %80%
  • Productive Shot
  • cut shot
  • 19 runs
  • 2x4 - 1x6
0 8 2 9 14 7 17 13
Mohammad Haris
56(32) 5x4 - 4x6
Control %50%
  • Productive Shot
  • reverse_sweep
  • 13 runs
  • 3x4 - 0x6
8 14 2 2 8 13 3 6

Best performances - Bowlers

M Pathirana
O4
M0
R26
W4
Eco6.50
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
PVD Chameera
O4
M0
R40
W3
Eco10.00
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Match Details

Toss

Kandy Falcons , elected to field first

Player Of The Match

Season

Hours of play (local time)

15.00 start, First Session 15.00-16.30, Interval 16.30-16.50, Second Session 16.50-18.20

Match days

6 July 2024 - day/night match (20-over match)

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Points

Colombo Strikers 2, Kandy Falcons 0

Scorer: Chetan Kumar | Commentator: Shashwat Kumar

END OF OVER:
20 | 17 Runs 2 Wkts | KAF: 197/8 (3 runs required, RR: 9.85)

  • Pavan Rathnayake1 (1b)
  • Thisara Perera2-0-18-1
  • Matheesha Pathirana4-0-26-4

7pm That will be all from us for this game. The action in the LPL does not stop and in a few minutes' time, the Dambulla Sixers will be at it against the Jaffna Kings, and you can catch all that happens in that game here. Until next time, this is goodbye from me, Chetan and everyone else at ESPNcricinfo! Take care!

Matheesha Pathirana, Player of the Match: I had a little bit of pressure because it was a good wicket. I had 2 for 19 after two overs and then I tried to bowl dot balls and I got wickets as a bonus.

Thisara Perera, Colombo Strikers captain: (On the decision to bowl the final over) I bowled only one over (before). I asked my teammates and they said I can bowl, so I bowled (smiles). (On what he was thinking before the last ball) I am always backing my yorkers, so that is why I stuck with my plan. I could not bowl it (just before the last ball) but bowled on the last ball.

Wanindu Hasaranga, Kandy Falcons captain: Credit goes to our top order, they batted really well. It was a fantastic game. Wicket was so good, I thought it was also a chaseable score. As a bowling unit, we should bowl with discipline.

6:50pm Phew. That is perhaps the only expression that sums up this topsy-turvy contest. The Falcons were behind in the powerplay and then, courtesy of Haris and Fletcher, they were ahead. Comfortably ahead it seemed, until both of them were dismissed in quick succession. Kamindu Mendis then unfurled an extraordinary repertoire of strokes and brought the equation down to 47 off 30, which later became 35 off 23. But then, Pathirana turned up, and he, almost single-handedly, turned the tide Colombo's way.

His gave away only a handful of runs in his last 11 balls, picked up crucial wickets and gave Perera 20 to defend in the final over. The Strikers skipper then had 18 in the bank (off four balls) and ended up conceding 16 in his first three, only to come up with a dot, right when it mattered most.

Plenty to dissect from a Falcons POV. Should Chaturanga have kept swinging when Mathews was at the other end? Could Mathews have denied the single off the final ball of the penultimate over and stayed on strike for the start of the 20th? Could they have been more judicious in their shot-selection when the required run-rate seemed under control? These questions might sting for a while, and might be something to ponder over as the dust settles.

19.6
W
NLTC Perera to Mathews, OUT, Perera does the trick! The Strikers have won, and look at him wheel away in celebration! Mathews, having brought the Falcons so close, falls agonizingly short! Finally gets the yorker right, just outside off. Mathews can only drill it back to Perera, who fields it cleanly and then runs up to the stumps to run out Mathews. The Falcons lose by two runs, and the Strikers have now done the double over them!

AD Mathews run out 33 (14b 4x4 2x6) SR: 235.71

Just three needed now. Perera under all sorts of pressure. Super Over, anyone?

19.5
6
NLTC Perera to Mathews, SIX, oh my days, Mathews is doing this in some style! Juicy full toss on the stumps. Mathews gets his front foot out of the way and smears this over cow corner!

9 off 2 now. Mathews in the ascendancy. Big ball coming up. Could be the game right here

19.4
4
NLTC Perera to Mathews, FOUR, another boundary! Mathews is keeping the Falcons alive! Another missed yorker and it is not full enough to deny Mathews from getting under it. Muscles it towards deep mid wicket and gets it just past Phillips!
19.3
6
NLTC Perera to Mathews, SIX, oh, hello! Misses the yorker by a smidgen and Mathews climbs into it. Sits deep in his crease, gets under it and pounds it over the bowler's head!

19 off 4. Can Mathews pull this game out of the fire?

19.2
1
NLTC Perera to Rathnayake, 1 run, low full toss just outside off. Rathnayake squeezes it out towards deep mid wicket

Rathnayake joins Mathews

DaWolf: "Last 11 balls from Pathirana - 3 runs (1 a leg bye), 3 wickets, 5 dots. Exceptional."

19.1
W
NLTC Perera to de Silva, OUT, miscued, and taken superbly! In the slot outside off. Chaturanga looks to go downtown but slices across it too much. Spoons up and Wellalage makes up plenty of ground to his left from extra cover. Keeps his eyes on the ball and snaffles it up. Chaturanga has been put out of his misery, and the Strikers are almost there now!

PC de Silva c Wellalage b NLTC Perera 3 (8b 0x4 0x6) SR: 37.50

Perera has taken it upon himself to bowl the last over. 20 needed. The Strikers will only have four fielders outside the ring because their over-rate has not been up to the mark. Everything happening here

Kandy 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st25ADS FletcherLD Chandimal
2nd95ADS FletcherMohammad Haris
3rd4PHKD MendisMohammad Haris
4th41AD MathewsPHKD Mendis
5th0AD MathewsMD Shanaka
6th0AD MathewsPW Hasaranga
7th15AD MathewsPC de Silva
8th17AD MathewsP Rathnayake