Arachchige fifty, Eshan and Tharindu three-wicket hauls bring Gallants back to winning ways

• LPL 2026 sees completion of first 10 matches; Reeza Hendricks leads batting charts with 196 runs; Lizaad Williams leading wicket-take with 10 poles
• Galle Gallants pressing hard for their case in LPL 2026 with three wins out of first four games

Galle Gallants got back to the winning track after their first loss against Dambulla Sixers on 22 July to make it three wins out of four games as they outclassed Jaffna Kings by 60 runs on Thursday at the Rangiri International Stadium in Dambulla.

After all the five teams have played four games each, Galle Gallants sit atop with six points, while Kaps, Sixers and Kings have four points each. Royals have two points only.

After being asked to bat first, Gallants lost Sam Harper and Charith Asalanka early with 16 runs on the board in three overs. At this point, Chris Lynn and Chamika Karunaratne put on 48 runs with the former dominating the stand as he ended up with a 22-ball 46 before departing.

Gallants slipped to 110-6 in 14.2 overs before their top-scorer Sahan Arachchige and Mohammad Nawaz arrested the collapse with a game-changing 68-run stand off 30 balls. Arachchige hit four fours and three sixes in his 36-ball 63, while Nawaz hit two sixes and as many fours in his 27 off 16 balls.

Vijayakanth Viyaskanth hit a six off the two balls he faced as Gallants posted a strong 193-8 in 20 oves. Dilshan Madushanka and Lizaad Williams picked up two wickets each. Shakib Al Hasan, Dunith Wellalage and Mohammad Shiraz had one wicket each to their name.

In reply, Jaffna Kings’ chase never got going as they were rocked by three wickets each from Tharindu Ratnayake and Eshan Malinga. They slipped to 33-4 with Akif Javed and Dasun Shanaka also sharing a wicket each.

Only Wellalage managed put up some fight with the bat and it was because of his 39-ball 56 that Jaffna Kings managed to salvage some pride and closed in on the loss margin. Wellalage hit four fours and as many sixes in the lost battle that he waged as Kings went from 99-8 in 12.3 overs to 133 all out with Williams unable to walk out to bat due to injury.

David Wiese was the only other batter to cross the 20-run mark as he scored 22 with the help of three fours. Ratnayake finished with three for 19 in four, Malinga with three for 13 in three, while Viyaskanth also picked up a wicket.

24 July will be a rest day in LPL 2026, while the action will return with two double-headers on Saturday and Sunday.

Brief Scores

Galle Gallants won by 60 runs

Galle Gallants: 193/8 (20)
Sahan Arachchige 63 (36)
Chris Lynn 46 (22)
Mohammad Nawaz 27 (16)

Dilshan Madushanka 2/35 (4)
Lizaad Williams 2/37 (4)

Jaffna Kings: 133/9 (17.5)

Dunith Wellalage 56 (39)
David Wiese 22 (20)

Eshan Malinga 3/13 (3)
Tharindu Ratnayake 3/19 (4)