31 all out but team still wins the match
Cricket is a
game of glorious uncertainties, and the statement once again proved itself on
Tuesday when the cricket world saw an 'unlikeliest' of victories during a
Premier Championship match in Sri Lanka.
Riding on
Asiri Karunaratne's magnificent 5 for 21, Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club, who
opted to field, demolished Galle Cricket Club's first innings for just 31 in
mere 15.1 overs.
Most teams
would consider a match to be in their pocket after bowling out the opposition
for such a meager total.
Interestingly
though, Galle Cricket Club recovered from the dismal batting show to win by
four runs and save themselves from being relegated from Sri Lanka's first class
competition.
After
Galle's 31, Air Force Sports Club scored 215 to take a solid 184-run lead and
be in the driving seat with a comfortable victory in sight. But that was where
the game took an unbelievable turn.
Galle
cruised past 184 for the loss of just two wickets and ended their second
innings at 295 courtesy a brilliant century from former Sri Lanka U-19 batsman
Charith Asalanka. That set a 112-run target for the Air Force team to register
a win.
But Air
Force were bowled out for 107, handing Galle a four-run win.
It was the
lowest winning first-innings score in a first-class match since 1924, when
Gloucestershire were dismissed for 31 against Middlesex. The lowest of all time
was in 1827, when England were skittled for 27 against Sussex.