By Srian Obeyesekere
Galle Marvels lived up to the name thrashing Jaffna Kings by 7 wickets Kings in the Qualifier 1 yesterday to storming to the finals of the 2024 Lanka Premier League on a fantastic all-round display of which the main actors were 4 for 23 Player of the Match Dwaine Pretorius, and Tim Seifert unbeaten on 62 off 41 and Janith Liyanage 56 off 36 at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium.
New Zealander Seifert struck 9 boundaries and a six while Liyanage sent 3 over the top and 5 to the ropes in a truly defining career starring role that brought him right into T20 reckoning following the recent ODI discovery of the 29-year-old, who stamped his name with an ODI century from only nine outings having debuted in January this year versus Zimbabwe.
As Liyanage was to comment post-match, “This was a very decisive game for me where I was determined to make my mark with a productive innings.”
Jaffna Kings, taking first lease, did post a compatible 177 for 7 wickets with the 100 brought up in 11.4 overs with Avishka Fernando on song on 50 off 32. But he fell two balls later (52 off 33, 4×4, 3×6) -153 for 5 after 17.5 as the game swung Galle’s way with local boy Isuru Udana in a supplementing 2 for 37-act.
Galle Marvels run chase suffered an early 1 for 29 setback into 2.2 overs when skipper Niroshan Dickwella went for 9, but Alex Hales 36 (21b, 5×4, 2×6) was joined by Tim Seifert in a 41 second-wicket alliance off 22 when Hales was stumped by Kusal Mendis off Fabian Allen. The entry of next in Janith Liyanage was to set the victory tone for Galle Marvels in the 92 third-wicket alliance with Seifert off 62 with Bhanuka Rajapaksa 0n 8 off 7 (1×4) joining Seifert in the final thrust from the high of 162 for 3 after 16.2 with Galle finishing it off with 11 balls to spare.
CHIEF SCORES:
Jaffna Kings 177/7 (20 Overs) (Avishka Fernando 52, Kusal Mendis 46, Rilee Rossouw 40, Azmatullah Omarzai 14, Dwaine Pretorius 4/23, Isuru Udana 2/37, Prabath Jayasuriya 1/38)
Galle Marvels 181/3 (18.1 Overs (Tim Seifert n.o. 62 Janith Liyanage 56, Alex Hales 36, Bhanuka Rajapaksa n.o. 9, Azmatullah Omarzai 1/33, Fabien Allen 1/38, Tabriz Shamsi 1/27)
