A target of 201 in a final in the mind’s eye looks achievable, but history has recorded that low chasing targets can be tricky, Sri Lanka ” A ” came out of those stormy waters thanks to Pavan Rathayaka and Milan Ratnayaka in yesterday’s ” A” team tri nation final at Abu Dhabi to clinching the trophy by a 5-wicket thriller,
What many thought that the target of 201 set by the Irish would be a walk in the park for the Sri Lankan ” A” team suddenly turned herculean as Sri Lankan top 5 batters were done and dusted for the day sitting in the hutch wondering the aftermath of the thunderbolt by the Irish seamers.
Sri Lanka 43 for 5 wickets in 7.5 overs in pursuit of 201. The top 5 Isuru Udara , Kamil Mishra, Nuwindu Fernando, and Sahan Arachchige and captain Sadeera Samarawickrema are all blown apart by Tom Mayes 3 for 38 and Liam McCarthy 2 for 31 in their power play spell of 5 overs each.
Pavan Ratnayaka was joined by Millan Ratnayake.
The combination taught many international players and young hopefuls the art of building a partnership, the approach, not leaving the next man to do the job , do it yourself, and most importantly, the actual definition of responsibility .The pair stitched an unbroken partnership of 160 runs for the 6th wicket, with both batters unbeaten on simultaneous scores of 77 runs each.
The glorious match winning partnership will be recorded as one of its kind in the annals of ” A” team competitions.
Basically, no partnership is without a flaw. Ireland missed an easy run out opportunity, Doeney also missed an easy catch at first slip off the bat of Milan Ratnayaka off Gavin Hoey.
If these opportunities were taken, we might have read a different script.
Ireland wolves were under pressure during the power play overs. Madushanka was off colour yesterday. Wicket less for 50. Milan Ratnayaka and Mohd Shiraz were out of the box with miserly wicket taking spells with Tharindu Ratnayaka, even out spinning his senior partner Dushan Hemantha
Ireland was reduced to 110 for 7 wickets as Sri Lankan spinners simply spun them out of the game.
The success story of Sri Lanka excelling in this series is the control they have in the middle overs. They also ensure to dismiss inform batters before the start of the death overs.
From 110 for 7,Ireland must be given due credit to get to 200 in 47.3 overs.
Morgan Topping 73 and lower order batter Tom Mayers 36 built a valuable 76-run partnership for the 8th wicket.
Morgan Topping, in all honesty, ran out of partners. Ireland, who are relatively new in the international arena, will learn from their forced and unforced errors.
Milan Ratnayaka was miserly 2 for 24, Tharindu Ratnayaka too difficult to negotiate 4 for 33, and Mohd Shiraz 1 for 20 in his 8 overs seems a well organised seam bowler.
Milan Ratnayaka was adjudicated man of the final for his 3 for 24 and unbeaten 77.