Ruhuna Royals stay alive after crushing hapless Basnahira

by Dilanka MANNAKKARA

The Basnahira Cricket Dundees continued their poor form in the SLPL 2012 as they slumped to their fifth defeat in six games after the resurgent Ruhuna Royals team led by Lasith Malinga defeated them by four wickets with 20 balls to spare at the R. Premadasa Stadium.

The Royals chasing a paltry score of just 123 blasted the hapless Basnahira bowling to all corners during the powerplay and the match just became a one sided affair afterwards.

The Ruhuna openers Aaron Finch and Nasir Jamshed were ruthless in attack, showing no mercy to the Basnahira bowlers who bowled poor lines and lengths through out and the powerplay produced an unbelievable 76 runs. Finch was in the mode to blast any ball that was within his zone and even the good balls disappeared to the boundary ropes in a flash.

Finch made a whirlwind 28 off just 14 balls with 4 fours and two monster sixes. Jamshed continued from there onwards and made sure that Ruhuna reached the required target comfortably as he made a calculated 51 of 46 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes. Ruhuna however lost a string of wickets after Finch fell and finally reached their winning target with a slow recovery.

Ruhuna were on the defensive after the powerplay as they took a painstaking 64 balls to get just 48 runs and in the process lost 5 wickets. Bangladeshi spinner Mahmudullah took 3 wickets for 30 runs in his 4 overs.

The Basnahira Cricket Dundees who won the toss elected to bat first in a slow track were immediately in trouble. Dimuth Karunarathne was sent off to the pavilion by Wahab Riaz for just 3 runs after he struggled to get off strike. Skipper Tilakaratne Dilshan was run out afterwards for 15 runs and thereafter Basnahira never recovered.

Rilee Rissouow who was pinching the singles and trying to get a move on was hit by a brutal bouncer by Lasith Malinga and had to retire hurt. Only Cameron Borgas who made merit with his innovative stroke play was the only batsman to score more than more than run a ball and scored 40 off 33 balls.

Basnahira Dundees: 123 for 4 wickets in 20 overs (C. Borgas 40, R. Rissouw 33, Wahab Riaz 2 for 19, D. Perera 1 for 16).

Ruhuna Royals: 124 for 6 wickets in 16.4 overs (N. Jamshed 51*, A. Finch 28 – Mahamudullah 3 for 30).