Dambulla Aura has overtaken B – Love Kandy’s top spot on the Points Table after registering their 5th win today (12th August) to beat the Colombo Strikers in Match No. 16 of the Lanka Premier League 2023, played at R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.
After having won the toss, the Dambulla Aura Captain Kusal Mendis chose to bat first. The Aura made a couple of changes, bringing Alex Ross and Janith Liyanage for Kusal Perera and Hayden Kerr, while the Strikers made three changes by replacing their regular Captain Niroshan Dickwella (who came back from a finger injury), Angelo Perera and Jeffrey Vandersay, for Lahiru Udara, Ramesh Mendis and Lakshan Sandakan.
<<< Haris and Mathews steer B – Love Kandy to seal Play-Off spot >>>
Aura got off to a terrible start by losing Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama with only 24 runs on the board. Soon after, it became 46/4 inside the first 7 overs as they lost Dhananjaya De Silva as well, putting their side under huge pressure.
However, Ben McDermott and Alex Ross joined in the middle and took the momentum from the Strikers. The two Aussie batters simply judged the game situation and put on a match-defining 102-run stand for the 5th wicket off 71 balls. Dambulla Aura added 61 runs in the last 4 overs, which helped them to post 166/5 in 20 overs.
Ross was the only other batter to be dismissed after stroking his maiden LPL half-century (52 off 38), and his knock comprised 5 fours & 2 sixes. McDermott, though, was the star performer with the bat as he too reached his maiden LPL half-century. The latter smashed an unbeaten 69 runs in 46 deliveries which consisted of 4 fours & 4 sixes as well.
On the other hand, all three seamers for Colombo were expensive after a wonderful start earlier in the innings. Matheesha Pathirana took 2/36, while Chamika Karunaratne and Naseem Shah finished with 1/35 & 1/38 respectively. Jeffrey Vandersay was the most economical bowler with figures of 1/21 in 4 overs.
<<< Bowlers and Fernando star as Dambulla Aura surge to top >>>
In reply, Pathum Nissanka and Babar Azam began the run-chase, but failed to give the start which Colombo would have wanted, with Nissanka falling early.
Janith Liyanage was introduced in the 4th over, but Niroshan Dickwella capitalized on the part-time bowler to get some quick runs. He smashed 16 runs from the first 4 balls before Liyanage had the last laugh against him. The keeper batter was castled when attempting to play the scoop for the 2nd consecutive time as he walked back for a 6-ball 17.
The Strikers kept losing wickets as Babar Azam (11), Angelo Perera (1) and Nuwanidu Fernando (21) perished close to each other, which reduced them to 74/5 just after the halfway mark of the innings.
Iftikhar Ahmed (18 off 26) and Mohammad Nawaz (20 off 24) too struggled to get going as they were cleaned up by Dushan Hemantha and Noor Ahmad respectively. In the end, the Colombo Strikers were blown away for 116 in 19.4 overs, handing a commanding 50-run victory to Dambulla Aura.
Aura’s bowlers were an absolute treat to watch and Hassan Ali was the best of them, finishing with 3/16 in 4 overs. Apart from him, Noor Ahmad and Dushan Hemantha shone, scalping 2/14 & 2/16 in their respective 4-over spells. This was Dambulla Aura’s 5th win, and they once again managed to top the LPL Points Table.
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Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avishka Fernando | c Chamika Karunaratne b Naseem Shah | 7 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 77.78 |
| Kusal Mendis | b Chamika Karunaratne | 7 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 70.00 |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | c Nuwanidu Fernando b Matheesha Pathirana | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Ben McDermott | not out | 69 | 46 | 4 | 4 | 150.00 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c Iftikhar Ahmed b Jeffrey Vandersay | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 122.22 |
| Alex Ross | c Niroshan Dickwella b Matheesha Pathirana | 52 | 38 | 5 | 2 | 136.84 |
| Hasan Ali | not out | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 120.00 |
| Extras | 13 (b 1 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 10, pen 0) |
| Total | 166/5 (20 Overs, RR: 8.3) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Naseem Shah | 4 | 0 | 38 | 1 | 9.50 | |
| Chamika Karunaratne | 4 | 0 | 35 | 1 | 8.75 | |
| Matheesha Pathirana | 4 | 0 | 36 | 2 | 9.00 | |
| Mohammad Nawaz | 4 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 8.25 | |
| Jeffrey Vandersay | 4 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 5.25 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathum Nissanka | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Binura Fernando | 12 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 150.00 |
| Babar Azam | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Hasan Ali | 11 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 84.62 |
| Niroshan Dickwella | b Janith Liyanage | 17 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 283.33 |
| Nuwanidu Fernando | c & b Dushan Hemantha | 21 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 105.00 |
| Angelo Perera | lbw b Noor Ahmad | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Iftikhar Ahmed | b Dushan Hemantha | 18 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 69.23 |
| Mohammad Nawaz | b Noor Ahmad | 20 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 83.33 |
| Chamika Karunaratne | c Kusal Mendis b Binura Fernando | 5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Naseem Shah | c Avishka Fernando b Hasan Ali | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Matheesha Pathirana | c Noor Ahmad b Hasan Ali | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Jeffrey Vandersay | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 10 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 8, pen 0) |
| Total | 116/10 (19.4 Overs, RR: 5.9) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binura Fernando | 3.4 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 5.29 | |
| Hasan Ali | 4 | 0 | 16 | 3 | 4.00 | |
| Janith Liyanage | 2 | 0 | 26 | 1 | 13.00 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 2 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 12.00 | |
| Noor Ahmad | 4 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 3.50 | |
| Dushan Hemantha | 4 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 4.00 | |
<<< Lanka Premier League 2023 >>>
 to beat the Colombo Strikers in Match No. 16 of the Lanka Premier League 2023, played at R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.){kind=link}