Nishan Madushka and Anjala Bandara were both dismissed in their nineties in Sri Lanka’s first-class tournament, National Super League.
Nishan Madushka and Anjala Bandara fall in nervous nineties
Playing for Dambulla against Colombo in their season opener, the two wicketkeeper-batters were the side’s two top scorers, with Madushka, who has 18 international caps to his name, falling three short of a 17th first-class hundred, while the uncapped Bandara was dismissed five runs short of a fourth ton in the format.
Dambulla captain Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and batted first at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Monday, April 6. The openers, Madushka and Thanuka Dabare cashed in on favourable batting conditions to add 82 runs together, with the latter playing the aggressor to score 56 off 52 balls.
The next three batters together contributed only 38 runs before Anjala Bandara walked in at No.6. He added 51 runs for the sixth wicket with Madushka, who was dismissed caught and bowled by Prabath Jayasuriya for 97 on the first day.
Match 2, Dambulla vs Colombo
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Bandara went unbeaten into the second day but became Kasun Rajitha’s only dismissal of the innings for 95. He was the eighth wicket to fall, with Dambulla at 349, following a 66-run stand with Kavindu Pathiratne, who was also unlucky to fall just one short of a maiden first-class fifty.
Akila Dananjaya remained unbeaten on 26 off 38 as Dambulla finished their innings at 408 all out. Jayasuriya was Colombo’s top wicket-taker with figures of 3-110 from 33 overs. In reply, Colombo, captained by Charith Asalanka, started strongly with a 101-run opening partnership. They were 124-1 in the 32nd over at the time of writing.
Madushka has featured in 10 Tests and eight ODIs for Sri Lanka, with modest returns, but has almost 6000 first-class runs at 48.41 under his belt with a top score of 300*. Bandara, meanwhile, has an impressive record as well. Having made his professional debut in 2022, the 21-year-old left-handed wicketkeeper-batter had scored 1343 runs in 23 matches at 55.95, with three hundreds and five fifties, including a top score of 200*, before this game.
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Dambulla are notably the defending champions of the four-day tournament, having won the 2025 National Super League. Colombo had finished fourth in the five-team competition last year.
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