Angelo Perera stars as Dambulla earn hard fought win

A change of tactics by Dambulla Viikings earned them a much needed win in the Lanka Premier League over Kandy Tuskers at Suriyawewa yesterday.

Dambulla had been relying on their big hitters to bat most of their overs in the competition but yesterday they promoted Angelo Perera to number three although he had batted at six previously. 

Perera was scratchy to start with not being able to time the ball sweetly but as he spent time at the middle, his knock gained momentum and soon he cashed in putting the loose balls and not so bad ones away.

Perera was eventually dismissed for 67 that came off 49 deliveries but by that stage, Dambulla were cruising needing only a further 22 off 23 balls. In the end, Dambulla won with four balls to spare. 

There was a scare as Perera and skipper Dasun Shanaka were dismissed in successive overs but chasing a mere 157, they could afford a few mistakes. There will be no lapses against stronger teams like Jaffna Stallions though and Shanaka admitted the need to for set to batsmen to finish things off.

Although Kandy managed only 156, there was some superb batting on display earlier in the day. 

In order to be meaningful in T-20 cricket these days, you need to at least maintain a strike rate of 100 plus. What is so special about Kusal Mendis is that he fulfills that requirement without having to slog. His elegant cricket strokes are finely timed, bisects the fielders and more importantly mighty effective as well.

Mendis has been the mainstay of Kandy Tuskers batting and he held the innings together posting a half-century with his 55 coming off 45 balls.

But Tuskers lost three wickets in the space of seven balls for the addition of four runs including Mendis and Brendan Taylor to hand Dambulla the initiative.

A target in the range of 170 would have made it a close encounter.