Lankan Islanders Orange won their second game of the season on Sunday. A warm summers day welcomed both teams at Punchbowl Oval as the Lankan Islanders Orange team played against Phoenix. After losing the toss again the Islanders bowled first on a wicket that was not offering any assistance to the bowlers. After an early barrage of runs 0/58 after 11 overs, the Islanders were able to strike through the bowling of Dishan De Silva. Newcomer Chad came to the party to grab another 2 wickets to have the Phoenix at 3/83 at drinks. The 2nd session saw the Islanders take wickets at regular intervals with regular wicket hound DK grabbing a wicket and Hindol chipping in with 1. However it was recent new recruit and fellow Wadduwa local Oshanka Perera bowling darts similar to a bowling machine tying down the Phoenix batsmen during the death overs ending up with 4/11 of 5 overs. Kudos to Samira who bowled well in his 2nd spell limiting boundaries to a rarity. Not to mention some great fielding by Thraindu who ended up with 2 catches. The Phoenix were bowled out for 169 in the last over, meaning they lost they last 7 wickets for 86 runs. The Lankan Islanders began their run chase with Sameera & Tharindu who got of us to a steady start, until Tharindu was caught and then Oshanka was run out unfortunately in a classic case of “Yes, no, sorry machan”. That brought Chad to the crease and he and Sameera took the attack bowlers scoring runs at will. However 3 overs before drinks, Sameera and Chad were back in the pavilion and at 4/78 the match was in the balance. Enter the 2 senior guys, Prads and Sanji. Both batsmen were able to steady the ship and rotate the strike and put away the loose balls to make sure the run chase was back on track. The 95 run partnership was full of lusty blows by Prads which would make Chris Gayle jealous, whilst Sanji’s innings contained many classic cricket shots which would delight the Lahiru Thirimanne’s of the world. The target was achieved in 36th over when Sanji slog swept a boundary ending a maginifcent performance by the Islanders Orange team. Prads ended up on 47no and Sanji 37no. A great performance by everyone in the team and a 2nd win on the trot, which sees the Islanders Orange team gain momentum. #Orangenation By Sanji Ratnayake
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 09:19:13 +0000