Lanka Premier League 2022, Match 2- Kandy Falcons Outclass Colombo Stars With a Massive Margin of 109 runs

The second match of the Lanka Premier League 2022 was held between Colombo Stars and Kandy Falcons on 6 December 2022 at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota.

Colombo Stars won the toss and invited Kandy Falcons to bat first. The weather was drizzling, but there was no delay in the match as the covers were off, and players came to the field. The first inning started with Nissanka and Fletcher on the crease, and Mathews opened the attack. The match was going smoothly in the first 5 overs, with some boundaries from the bat of openers. Kandy Falcons reached 41 runs without losing a single wicket during the powerplay.

Fletcher was about to lose his wicket in the second over, but his luck was with him as the opposite team dropped his fourth catch in the 7th over. In the 5th ball of the 10th over, Fletcher hit a four to credit a half-century in his account. Kandy Falcons chased 88 runs with 0 wickets down till the 10th over.

Nissanka also completed his fifty in 12.3 overs while hitting a four on the ball of Muditha Lakshana. Colombo Stars tried to drop a wicket, but the openers denied them and completed 152 runs in 15 overs.

After trying so hard, Stars finally broke the opening partnership when Prasanna took the wicket of Nissanka in the 16th over. But Fletcher was there on the other side, hit boundaries, and reached his century in the 20th over. Falcon finished the first inning with a terrific run score of 199/1, and it was a mammoth total against the Colombo Stars.

The second inning started with Dickwella and Mathews at the crease, and Zahoor Khan opened the attack. During the powerplay, CLS lost three wickets of Dickwella, Aslanka, and Bopara and could only chase 38 runs. Hasaranga took the ball in his hand and took 3 back-to-back wickets of Chandimal, Benny Howell, and Prasanna in the 7th over.

In 10 overs, CLS tried hard but reached only 56 runs with a loss of 7 wickets. After that, despite being experienced, the batters of Colombo crumbled under the pressure of the daunting total ahead of them and started losing wicket after wicket. Colombo was rattled out for 90 after losing all their wickets.

Kandy are off to a great start. They were decimated with the ball after their openers had set the game up for them. Kandy took away only positives and left Colombo with open wounds to heal.