Dambulla Sixers was not able to reach the playoffs despite securing a 28-run win over Colombo Strikers in the final match of the LPL 2024 league stage, played at R. Premadasa.
Colombo Strikers skipper Thisara Perera won the all important toss and decided to bowl first once again. They made no changes to their winning combination while Dambulla Sixers, who are desperate for a big win, made four changes.
According to qualification scenarios, Dambulla needed to win by 76 runs to go pass Kandy Falcons net run rate. Although, Colombo needed just a win to finish the league stage on top.
However, the Sixers were off to a terrible start when they lost 4 wickets for 25 runs in 5.3 overs and also finished with the lowest powerplay score of 4/29 this season. Even after the 6-over phase, they slipped to 38/5, losing Chapman who was one of their successful batters in this edition.
In the rebuilding process, Wickramasinghe joined with his skipper and fought hard with a 62-run stand. Fernando got the better of Nabi who perished for a 33-ball 40, his highest score this season.
Wickramasinghe (26 off 29) also struggled to get going and was castled by Pathirana. Eventually, they were bowled out for 123 at the end of their 20 overs, making their way for an inevitable task of restricting the Strikers to 47 or less for a top-four finish.
Fernando, who set the tone with the new ball, finished with an impressive figures of 4-1-15-3. Apart from him, Pathirana and Wellalage each starred with a couple of scalps as well.
Chasing 124 to win did not look like that much easy for the Strikers as the Sixers tried their best for a playoff berth. The wickets were beginning to fall right from the start as Colombo were reduced to 31/4 inside the powerplay.
But, that was not enough for Dambulla to restrict the opponents to 47 or fewer. Phillips and Wellalage were looking to settle-in, but lost both of them within two deliveries before Shadab being run out, leaving them at 52/7.
Perera and Wijesundara tried to pull things back, adding 33 runs for the 8th wicket. After losing Wijesundara, it was really hard for the skipper to take the side home. He was dismissed for 30 off 31 balls as they bowled out 95 with 11 balls remaining.
Pradeep was the pick of the bowlers with 3/20 while Wickramasinghe took a couple of wickets for just 13 runs. Accordingly, Dambulla Sixers finished their LPL 2024 campaign with a 28-run win.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reeza Hendricks | c Rahmanullah Gurbaz b Isitha Wijesundara | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 12.50 |
| Kusal Perera | run out (Matheesha Pathirana) | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 77.78 |
| Nuwanidu Fernando | b Binura Fernando | 15 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 187.50 |
| Mark Chapman | run out (Isitha Wijesundara) | 8 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 88.89 |
| Towhid Hridoy | c Rahmanullah Gurbaz b Binura Fernando | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Mohammad Nabi | c Angelo Perera b Binura Fernando | 40 | 33 | 4 | 2 | 121.21 |
| Chamindu Wickramasinghe | b Matheesha Pathirana | 26 | 29 | 1 | 1 | 89.66 |
| Dushan Hemantha | c Muhammad Waseem b Dunith Wellalage | 10 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 142.86 |
| Akila Dananjaya | c & b Matheesha Pathirana | 8 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 88.89 |
| Nuwan Pradeep | lbw b Dunith Wellalage | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Nuwan Thushara | not out | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 8 (b 1 , lb 1 , nb 0, w 6, pen 0) |
| Total | 123/10 (20 Overs, RR: 6.15) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binura Fernando | 4 | 1 | 15 | 3 | 3.75 | |
| Isitha Wijesundara | 4 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 4.00 | |
| Thisara Perera | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 7.00 | |
| Shadab Khan | 4 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 8.25 | |
| Matheesha Pathirana | 4 | 0 | 25 | 2 | 6.25 | |
| Dunith Wellalage | 2 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 9.00 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | b Chamindu Wickramasinghe | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Angelo Perera | c Mark Chapman b Chamindu Wickramasinghe | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Muhammad Waseem | c Mark Chapman b Nuwan Pradeep | 15 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 250.00 |
| Glenn Phillips | c Mohammad Nabi b Akila Dananjaya | 15 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 100.00 |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | c Akila Dananjaya b Nuwan Pradeep | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 85.71 |
| Dunith Wellalage | b Mohammad Nabi | 11 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 91.67 |
| Thisara Perera | c Reeza Hendricks b Nuwan Pradeep | 30 | 31 | 1 | 3 | 96.77 |
| Shadab Khan | run out (Sonal Dinusha ) | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Isitha Wijesundara | c Nuwanidu Fernando b Dushan Hemantha | 12 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 70.59 |
| Binura Fernando | run out (Nuwan Thushara) | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 40.00 |
| Matheesha Pathirana | not out | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 1 (b 1 , lb 0 , nb 0, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 95/10 (18.1 Overs, RR: 5.23) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chamindu Wickramasinghe | 4 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 3.25 | |
| Nuwan Pradeep | 2.1 | 0 | 20 | 3 | 9.52 | |
| Nuwan Thushara | 2 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 8.50 | |
| Akila Dananjaya | 4 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 4.50 | |
| Mohammad Nabi | 4 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 2.75 | |
| Nuwanidu Fernando | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 13.00 | |
| Dushan Hemantha | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2.00 | |
