Jaffna Kings continued their king-sized domination of the Sri Lanka Premier League 2021 second edition by a facile 192 run thrashing of Colombo Stars with Englishman Tom Kohler Cadman emerging the star of the day by his Player of the Match 92 in the 17th day-night match of tonight’s mega tournament at the R. Premadasa Stadium. Having amassed 193 for 5 wickets off 20 overs on winning the toss, Jaffna Kings decimated Colombo Stars for 91 in 15.5 overs with Jayden Seales the hero with the ball claiming 4 for 13 while Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, a native of Jaffna capped his maiden appearance in the tournament with figures of 3 for 32. Maheesh Theekshana, who opened the bowling, had figures of 2 for 25.
Colombo Stars lost their way losing skipper Angelo Mathews forb 10 caught and bowled by Maheesh Theekshana, with further calamity setting when one drop Ashen Priyanjan ran himself out for a first ball duck, and when Dhananjaya de Silva, who opened the batting with Mathews, exited caught by Shoaib Malik off Seales making it 3 for 24 after 4.1 overs, they were in deep trouble. Mathews brief 8-ball knock contained a six. De Silva made 11 off 12 hitting a boundary. Jaffna Kings piled on the pressure sending back the out of form Kusal Janith Perera for 2 undone by a turning delivery by Viyaskanth who had him snapped by Upul Tharanga on the off – 4 for 44 after 7.4 overs. One drop Tom Banton stood firm, but watched while next man in Dinesh Chandimal too became Theekshana’s second victim caught by Shinwari for 6 which marked the writing on the wall for Colombo Kings. Tom Banton top scored for the Stars with 30 off 33 inclusive of 4 boundaries.
The Jaffna Kings run machine hit top gear with openers Kohler-Cadmore and Upul Tharanga clobbering 110 for the first wicket off 70 balls when the latter fell for 37 caught by Banton off a pulled shot off Jeffrey Vandersay. Tom Kohler-Cadmore, the dominant force to the partnership had lambasted his way to 67 off just 37 deliveries pounding 7 sixes including two successive blows off a wayward Ashan Priyanjan with 3 boundaries to boot hitting over10 runs an over, it highlighted the sword edge the Jaffna Kings brought to the hyped-up contest in their giant run thus far in the tournament.
Jaffna Kings had surged to 61 for no loss Just past the power play stage and by the halfway mark, Jaffna Kings had sped to 85 for no loss with Cadmore on 42 off 31 balls packed with 5 over the top and 2 boundaries 5 with Upul Tharanga on 37 off 32 with 4 boundaries having maximized the power play six overs scoring 61. At that stage, Cadmore was on 29 off 18 balls capped with 3 to the stands and a boundary, and Upul Tharanga on 26 off 21 with the 4 boundaries. Ashen Randika made the onslaught a part of his party when he slammed Rampaul for six to race to 8 off 5 balls as the Kings reached 142 for 1 after 15 overs with Cadmore on 90. But quick Dushmantha Chameera came on to claim the wicket of Randika by holding back the pace to a delivery which the batsman came a cropper mistiming the shot to Vandersay as the Kings second wicket fell for 151 to the fifth delivery of the fifteenth over, Two balls later the Colombo Stars struck a double blow by seeing the back of the dangerous Cadmore who was removed by Naveen-ul-Haq who trapped him leg before wicket for 92 with the umpires decision upheld following the review. It marked the end to a truly mercurial knock when within sight of what would have been the culmination of what would have been an over the moon three figure mark had Cadmore gone the distance to that fulfillment of a batsman’s ultimate personal dream in the middle.
The exit of the willow works Cadmore brought together the tournament’s most consistent pair in Pakistani Shaib Malik and skipper Thisara Perera, but the expected fireworks did not follow with Perera falling for a brilliant catch by Vandersay at long on off to give Naveen-ul-Haq his second wicket. Perera lasted 5 balls for 7 hitting a boundary with the total reading 171 for 4 after 18.1. Two balls later, Malik too was gone for 10 off 9, also falling to Haq caught behind by Dinesh Chandimal with no addition to the score. It left the Kings other dynamo Wanindu Hasaranga to lead the final charge scoring 19 off 5 clouting six and 3 boundaries off 6 with Ashen Bandara on 2 in the final climax to 191 for 5 after 20 overs.
