Hendricks’ masterclass takes Dambulla Sixers over the line, yet again

• Marques Ackerman took two key wickets and partnered Hendricks in the chase, scoring 35 runs
• Fazalhaq Farooqi’s three wickets restricted Galle Gallants to 178
• Pavan Rathnayake and Gulbadin Naib played handy cameos, hitting three sixes each in successful chase of 179 runs

Reeza Hendricks scored his second fifty of the tournament and took his team over the line without getting dismissed for the second time as Dambulla Sixers defeated Galle Gallants at their home, Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, in the eighth match of the Lanka Premier League.

Hendricks came into bat at number three in the third over after Niroshan Dickwella departed and soon saw the back of Sahibzada Farhan as well. He then stitched a quickfire 36-run stand with Pavan Rathnayake and then took the game away in a 69-run stand with Marques Ackerman.

Rathnayake took the attack to the impact sub Eshan Malinga in the last over of the powerplay. Before that, he had a single six in his LPL career in 7 innings; then he deposited three maximums in a single over against Malinga, ending the powerplay at 70/3, as he departed for a 11-ball 29 on the last ball.

Hendricks, joined by his countryman, Ackerman, took the team’s total to 102/3 inside 10 overs, as the latter hit a massive six against Akif Javed in the 10th over to cross the 100-run mark.

The flow of boundaries continued as Hendricks and Ackerman continued with massive sixes from both batters in back-to-back overs against Malinga and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, leaving the equation required to 54 runs off 48 balls.

Ackerman was finally dismissed as Karunaratne showed up with the ball in hand as well, breaking the 69-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Hendricks still did not stop as he reached his second half-century of the season off just 30 deliveries.

The new batter Gulbadin Naib hit a couple of straight maximums against Mohammad Nawaz, ending the expensive over which had already seen Hendricks start with back-to-back boundaries, leaving just 16 runs off the last five overs, which also kickstarted Dambulla Sixers’ power blast as well.

Gulbadin hit 3 maximums in his six-ball cameo to finish the game in style with 23 balls remaining, chasing down the target set by Galle Gallants with ease.

At the start of the match, Galle Gallants’ Sam Harper (40 off 22 balls including 3 sixes and 3 fours) and Charith Asalanka (25 off 19 balls; 2 fours, 1 six) started well after losing Lasith Croospulle in the third over to Vishwa Lahiru. The duo gathered 64 runs off 37 balls for the second-wicket.

Chamika Karunaratne rescued the innings after Harper was bowled by Gulbadin Naib in the ninth ober and Asalanka was caught and bowled by Ackerman.

While wickets fell on the other end, skipper Dasun Shanaka came and arrested the collapse with a cameo. Later he made full use of the power blast’s first over, scoring 15 runs before Farooqi came back with a double-wicket over, dismissing Karunaratne for 45 runs off 30 deliveries and Mohammad Nawaz for two.

Shanaka chipped in with 20 runs off 10 balls, while Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s 16 runs off 13 balls took Gallants’ total to 178/8 in 20 overs.
Brief Scores

Dambulla Sixers won by 6 wickets with 23 balls to spare

Galle Gallants: 178/8 (20)

Chamika Karunaratne: 45 (30)
Sam Harper: 40 (22)

Fazalhaq Farooqi: 3/39 (4)
Marques Ackerman: 2/27 (3)

Dambulla Sixers: 180/4 (16.1)

Reeza Hendricks: 64* (37)
Marques Ackerman: 35 (25)
Pavan Rathnayake: 29 (11)

Chamika Karunaratne: 1/7 (1)
Dasun Shanaka: 1/18 (2)