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Galle Marvels have started their 2024 Lanka Premier League campaign in fine form with back-to-back victories to kick off the season. Jaffna Kings, on the other hand, have started with two final ball thrillers, winning one and losing the other.
DATE & TIME: Friday 5th July 2024: USA ET – 7:00am / USA (CST) – 9:00am / USA PT – 10:00am / UK – 3:00pm / South Africa – 4:00pm / Pakistan – 7:00pm / India – 7:30pm / Sri Lanka – 7:30pm / Bangladesh – 8:00pm / Saturday 6th July 2024: Australia – 12:00am
VENUE: Galle International Stadium, Galle, Sri Lanka
WEATHER: 28c or 82.4 F with cloudy skies with rain forecast before the start of play.
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: USA – Not Televised / West Indies – Not Televised / UK – Not Televised / South Africa – Not Televised / Pakistan – Star Sports / India – Star Sports / Bangladesh – Star Sports / Australia – Not Televised/ Sri Lanka – Star Sports
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: USA – Not Available / West Indies – Not Available / UK – Not Available / South Africa – Not Available / Pakistan – Tapmad / India – Fancode / Sri Lanka – Dialog TV Bangladesh – Not Available / Australia – Kayo Sports
GALLE MARVELS FORM: CONSISTENCY IS KEY
The Galle Marvels started their season with a final ball victory against the Jaffna Kings. In an extremely tight contest, Sahan Arachchige’s boundary off the final ball of the match stole victory for the Marvels. They followed that up by defending 179 by just seven runs against an impressive looking Colombo Strikers side to make it two wins from two matches.
LAST THREE: WWL
JAFFNA KINGS FORM: THE DRAMA KINGS
As mentioned, the Jaffna Kings have had two games go right down to the final ball with that opening defeat coming against their opponents in this one. In their second match of the tournament, the Kings faced the Dambulla Sixers in Pallekele and this time won by four wickets with Fabian Allen scoring a six off the final ball of the match with the scores level at that stage.
LAST THREE: WLL
GALLE MARVELS BETTING ANALYSIS
The top order of the Galle Marvels is very impressive with their captain Niroshan Dickwella and former England international Alex Hales a formidable pairing. Hales hit 65 and got Player of the Match against Jaffna Kings a couple of games ago, whilst Dickwella now has 97 runs in his two matches in this tournament backing Galle to have the highest opening partnership is a good bet.
With the ball, Maheesh Theekshana went wicket-less against the Jaffna Kings but that is expected to be a rarity throughout this tournament. That was proven to be the case at least in their last game when he picked up 2-20 off four overs against Colombo the other day and Theekshana to continue with his form with two or more wickets in this match seems a good bet.
JAFFNA KINGS BETTING ANALYSIS
The Jaffna Kings have an excellent top six in their batting order but arguably the two biggest stars, Rilee Rossouw and Kusal Mendis, have been the only two to miss out in both matches with Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando and Charith Asalanka all getting scores. It would be bizarre for that to continue and one off Mendis or Rossouw to be Jaffna’s best bat looks the way to go for this one.
As for the bowling department, only Dhananjaya de Silva took wickets against Dambulla with the Kings only able to take seven wickets in their two matches thus far. Spin is expected to be fruitful in Galle once again with De Silva to take two or more wickets in this match again seeming a good bet.
GALLE MARVELS VS JAFFNA KINGS EXPERT PREDICTION
The Galle Marvels are the only one of the five Lanka Premier League teams to have won both of their matches so far but their Net Run Rate of just +0.225 does highlight how slender their victories have been. The Jaffna Kings gave Galle a really good game in the opener and believed they had the match won in that final over. The Kings may well be a good value bet but the top tip here must be for Dickwella and Hales to star again and for the Marvels to have the highest opening partnership in the game.
GALLE MARVELS VS JAFFNA KINGS TOP TIP: GALLE MARVELS TO HAVE THE HIGHEST OPENING PARTNERSHIP