The third week’s matches of National Super League 2023 kicked off today (02nd February) at Kandy and Dambulla.
Colombo vs Jaffna
Colombo Team’s skipper Avishka Fernando won the toss and invited Jaffna Team to take the first lease of the wicket at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
The left-handed duo Navod Paranavithana and Ron Chandraguptha opened the batting for Jaffna but their stay at the crease was cut short for just 8 runs as the former was dismissed by the speedster Nuwan Pradeep for 2 runs.
Chandraguptha and No. 3 batter Kasun Abeyrathne steadied the ship for Colombo with a solid 72-run stand for the 2nd wicket. However, after the partnership is broken, Jaffna witnessed a batting collapse in the middle losing 5 wickets for 56 runs and being restricted to 136/5.
After 41.2 overs of play, the rain interrupted the match which brought early stumps on day one. Chandraguptha was Jaffna’s top scorer with a knock of 68 runs while the ambidextrous spinner Tharindu Rathnayake starred with the ball for Team Colombo with a 3-wicket haul.
Dambulla vs Kandy
The other encounter between Dambulla and Kandy which was scheduled to be commenced today at Dambulla International Cricket Stadium was called off for day one due to inclement weather conditions.
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