Seales burst, Fernando hundred, put Kings in final

(CMC) – West Indies fast bowler Jayden Seales produced a three-wicket haul to take his tally for the Lanka Premier League to 14, as Jaffna Kings stormed into the final with a 23-run victory over Dambulla Giants yesterday.

Avishka Fernando’s hundred propelled Kings to 210 for four off their 20 overs – the first 200-plus total of the tournament – before the 20-year-old Seales grabbed three for 24 in an outstanding four-over spell, to limit Giants to 187 for nine.

In tomorrow’s final, Kings will meet Galle Gladiators who beat them in the first qualifier two days ago.

Asked to bat first in yesterday’s second qualifier at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Kings got exactly 100 off 64 deliveries from righthander Fernando, with the opener striking ten fours and four sixes.

Crucially, he put on 122 for the first wicket with 20-year-old Afghan Rahmanullah Gurbaz whose 70 came from 40 balls and included five fours and four sixes.

Fernando added a further 37 for the second wicket with Tom Kohler-Cadmore (15) and 41 for the third with captain Thisara Perera (11 not out) before finally perishing with four balls remaining in the innings. In reply, Giants lost wickets in clusters and needed Chamika Karunaratne’s unbeaten 75 from 47 balls to stay alive in the run chase.

Needing to score at nearly 11 runs per over, Giants sped to 39 without loss off 21 balls before slumping to 44 for three in the fifth over, and required a 31-run fourthwicket stand between Najibullah Zadran (21) and Sandun Weerakkody (12) to recover.

Seales broke the stand when he got Weerakkody to miscue to mid-on in the eighth over and when he forced Ramesh Mendis (0) to glove the final delivery of the over – a lifting delivery which swung – through to the keeper, the innings plunged into strife again.

In all, four wickets tumbled for 21 runs, leaving Giants stumbling on 96 for seven in the 12th over, but Karunaratne came to their rescue, lashing ten fours and two sixes.

He put on 33 for the eighth with Marchant de Lange (9) and 40 for the ninth with Imran Tahir (6), but Seales ended Giants’ slim chances of victory by knocking over Tahir in the penultimate over which yielded only 10 runs.