Sanath and Upul steer Ruhuna to a thrilling 4 run win

Sanath Jayasuriya bowling at the Olam Cup 2010 at Singapore.

(Thanks to Critically Cricket for the Image)

Dashing opener Upul Tharanga hit a top score of 93 and veteran Sanath Jayasuriya snapped up four wickets to help Ruhuna Province pull off a thrilling four runs victory over the unbeaten Kandurata team in a key SLC Inter Provincial limited overs cricket tournament match worked off at the Galle Stadium yesterday.

Kandurata chasing a modest 213 runs recovered well after a bad start before falling short by just four runs with two balls to spare. All rounder Jeewan Mendis was the last man out for a fighting 59 which included one six and two boundaries.

Jayasuriya who opened the bowling along with Sachithra Senanayake, caused most of the damage with the best figures of four wickets for 26 runs. Earlier Upul Tharanga hammered a magnificent 93 from 135 balls with seven boundaries to steer Ruhuna to 213 runs after they had won the toss and elected to bat first.

Ruhuna: 213 in 50 overs (U.Tharanga 93, S. Jayasuriya 25, D. Chandimal 25, K. Kulasekera 21, S. Senanayake 22, M. Muralitharan 3 for 47, S. Randiv 3 for 29, D. Fernando 2 for 29).

Kandurata: 209 in 49.4 overs (T. Samaraweera 55, K. Sangakkara 18, C. Kapugedera 32, J. Mendis 59, C. Jayasinghe 20, S. Senanayake 2 for 29, S. Jayasuriya 4 for 26, L. Malinga 2 for 55).