KUSAL 56 N.O., KAMINDU 44 SET IT UP
By Srian Obeyesekere
Sri Lanka came from behind to choking Ireland from a strong 106 for 3 off 14.2 overs chasing the hosts 163 for 6 in sight of a further 58 off 34 balls when a full force big Irish fan base in a greenery of their national team attire went wildly noisy all smiles dwarfing the massive capacity home fans that evaporated by the 3-wicket heroism of Mahees Theekshana changing it all denied of a hat-trick when he had Ben Calitz stumped by Kusal Mendis for 4 and next ball had Gareth Delany snapped up by Dushmantha Chameera, but Mark Adair played down a slowed delivery, in an action filled night’s drama of a sensational 20-run great triumph to the delight of a reignited roaring home crowd in the sixth match of the ICC T20 World Cup at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium.
The final brakes was applied by the like Malinga much hyped IPL sellout young Matheesha Pathirana who brought that fruition in signalling his true potential by a 2-wicket polishing off of Ireland after one drop Kusal Mendis and the recalled Kamindu Mendis at No 6 had reeled off two contrastingly great innings adding a facelifting 77 for the fifth wicket off 33 balls in lifting Sri Lanka, put into bat, from a shaky 86 for 4 a good number of 13.5 overs gobbled up by a game Ireland attack to game changinf 153 for 5 after 18.4 when Kamindu fell trying to force the pace grabbed in the deep off Barry McCarthey for a rousing cameo of 44 off just 19 balls.
Kamindu’s sizzler rain in was in a spur of 2 sixes and 4 across as he smashed Matthew Humphrey for 4, 6, 4, that yielded 21 runs having survived a dropped chance as Ireland’s fielding came apart by several misses with Kamil Mishara and Kusal Mendis the benificiarirs.
The two early setbacks were that of No 4 Pavan Rathnayake playing an unpardonable silly shot moving away slightly to the leg and attempting to improvise a a plumb middle stump delivery by George Dockrell that took his middle stump. The gamble of Dunith Wellalage did not pay off spooning Gareth Delany to Dockrell for 10 off 13.
Sri Lanka 163 for 6 (Kusal 56*, Kamindu 44, Nissanka 24, Mishara 14, Wellalage 10, Dockrell 2-17, McCarthy 2-40) beat Ireland 143 (Tector 40, Ross Adair 34, Theekshana 3-23, Hasaranga 3-25,
Pathirana 2/26, Wellalage 1/28) by 20 runs
(Courtesy Sri Lanka Cricket)