Sajith 97, Ismail match bag of 10/42 star in STC Matale win over Kegalle MV
Two impressive performances, one by skipper Sajith De Silva (97), who was unfortunate to miss his ‘ton’, and the other by left-arm leg-spinner M. Ismail with a match bag of 10 wickets for 42 runs, steered St. Thomas’ Matale to their 3rd outright win, when they recorded a massive 283-run win over Kegalle Vidyalaya, at the STC ground in Matale, on Tuesday (3).
Put into bat first, St. Thomas’ totalled 299 with Sajith De Silva top scoring with 97, and then restricted the visitors to a low 49, with the bowlers dominating proceedings. Shasika Bandara bowled best to claim 4/16, while M. Ismail (3/13) and Gimantha Senanayake 2/00 shared 5 wickets between them.
St. Thomas’ batting second with a lead of 250 runs, declared their innings at 130/5. The visitors, in reply, underwent the same fate as in the 1st innings, with M. Ismail running through their batting with an impressive figures of 7/29, to bundle them out for 97 runs.
M. Ismail has picked 41 wickets for 302 runs in 6 matches played so far, to be the highest wicket-taker for St. Thomas’ Matale- 7/81 against Rahula Matara, 9/54 against SDS Jayasinghe MV Dehiwala, 11/80 against X’vires Maravila, 10/42 against Kegalle MV, 2/21 against St. Peters Negombo and 2/24 against Vidyartha Kandy.
SCORES
St. Thomas’ Matale 299 all out (Sajith De Silva 97, Gimantha Senanayaka 42, Shasika Bandara 39, M. Ismail 33, Thilina Kumara 4/92, Umesh Wijethunga 2/13) and 130/5 declared (Pubudu Bandara 37, Sajith De Silva 38, Shehan Avandhaya 32, Madushan Gunasingha 2/30)
Kegalu Vidyalaya 49 all out (Thilina Kumara 16, Shasika Bandara 4/16, M. Ismail 3/13, G. Senanayaka 2/00) and 97 all out ( Nissanka Gunasingha 27, M. Ismail 7/29, Inuka Bandara 2/26)