Following the defeat by the Star Kings the Lions faced Serendib in the 3rd / 4th position play off match. Serendib and the Lions had not faced each other this season as their scheduled match was cancelled, their last game coming in June 2023 when the Lions won. George was unavailable this match and the captaincy switched from Pratyush to Juto.
Serendib won the toss and elected to bat, in a game reduced to 18 overs because of the late start.
The first few overs didn`t start well with Serendib scoring 23 runs, however the Lions bowlers soon settled in and started taking wickets with the help of some excellent fielding - in total the Lions took 6 catches over the innings, with Juto taking 3 wickets. None of the Serendib batsmen scored more than 15 and only 2 stayed long enough to face more than 20 balls. At the end of their innings Serendib had scored 65 off the bat, but again the Lions gave more than 50 extras, taking Serendib`s total to 117/8...could the Lions chase this down?
The Lions innings started well, with 7 runs scored due to some errant bowling by Serendib`s opener, however as the bowling settled down the Lions batters struggled to score, with openers Sam and Pratyush only scoring 3 from the bat each by the end of the 4th over. Pratyush was bowled at the start of the 5th over and replacement Mantra at the start of the 6th, the wickets then came steadily and the Lions continued to struggle but managed to pass 50 during the 9th over shortly after Sam was retired on 14 after facing his maximum permitted balls. In the 15th over the last of the Lions Batsmen was dismissed with the score at 82/8, however Sam was able to return and tried valiantly to bring the Lions over the line, hitting 15, including 2 sixes, before being caught out. When all was said and done the the Lions managed 105 runs, unfortunately suffering their second defeat of the day and finishing in 4th place.
Stats: Highest scoring batsman : Sam (29), best batting strike rate : Juto (110), most wickets : Juto (3), best bowling economy : Juto (3.0).
Player of the Match: N/A
Team: Ethan Williams, James Smethers, Jay Davies, Juto Ball, Mantra Joshi, Patrick Mullane, Praytish Bist (Captain), Sam Robinson, Tasuku Imada, Tatsuki Pickard.
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