Dambulla Aura moved to the top of the points table after registering their 4th win today (11th August) to beat the Galle Titans in Match No. 14 of the Lanka Premier League 2023, played at R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.
After winning the toss, Dambulla Aura Captain Kusal Mendis decided to bowl first as they made two changes to bring in Ben McDermott and Dushan Hemantha for Alex Ross and Janith Liyanage. The Titans also made three changes, adding Sohan De Livera, Chad Bowes and Lahiru Kumara for Lasith Croospulle (injured), Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Tabraiz Shamsi.
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The Titans began their innings with a new opening combination in Shevon Daniel and Tim Seifert. However, with only 23 runs on the board, Seifert was castled in the 4th over by Binura Fernando for 15. Dhananjaya De Silva was introduced early in the power play and he removed Daniel for 7, after which they were reduced to 25/2 in 4.3 overs.
Right-arm leggy Dushan Hemantha cleaned up Chad Bowes who scored only 22 runs, and Noor Ahmad got the massive wicket of Shakib Al Hasan for 13. The wickets kept tumbling as Ashan Priyanjan (9) and Sohan De Livera (12) were next to depart courtesy of Hemantha and Hayden Kerr.
Dasun Shanaka showed some fight with the bat, scoring a 26-ball 36 before miscuing a lofted shot to long-on. In the end, the Galle Titans only managed to post 133/9 in 20 overs. On the bowling front, all the Aura bowlers were amongst the wickets tonight and Dushan Hemantha was the pick of them with 2/31.
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When chasing 134 on a spin-friendly pitch, Avishka Fernando and Kusal Mendis got off to a solid start as they added a run-a-ball 47 for the opening wicket. Lahiru Kumara, who played his first LPL game this season, drew first blood, dismissing the Skipper Mendis (18 off 24). Kumara also ripped through Sadeera Samarawickrama’s defences, the latter batted well for his 18-ball 25, including 4 boundaries.
The LPL’s leading run-scorer Fernando reached his 9th half-century and 2nd in this season off 41 balls. Kusal Perera was next to depart as he trapped an LBW off Shakib Al Hasan for 5 runs.
Fernando and Dhananjaya De Silva then stitched together an unbroken quick-fire partnership of 29 off 13 balls, which made sure Dambulla Aura crossed the line with 14 balls to spare, helping them top the LPL Points Table with 4 wins.
Fernando made an unbeaten 70 runs off 49 balls with a strike rate of 142.86. His knock consisted of 3 fours & 3 sixes. With the ball in hand, Lahiru Kumara bagged 2/31, while Shakib Al Hasan finished with 1/20 in his 4 overs.
Avishka Fernando, who led the way to Dambulla Aura’s win with a sensational fifty, was adjudged Player of the Match.
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Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Seifert | b Binura Fernando | 15 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 125.00 |
| Shevon Daniel | c Dushan Hemantha b Dhananjaya de Silva | 7 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 77.78 |
| Chad Bowes | b Dushan Hemantha | 22 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 122.22 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | b Noor Ahmad | 13 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Ashan Priyanjan | st Kusal Mendis b Dushan Hemantha | 9 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 64.29 |
| Sohan de Livera | b Hayden Kerr | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 109.09 |
| Dasun Shanaka | c Sadeera Samarawickrama b Hasan Ali | 36 | 26 | 5 | 0 | 138.46 |
| Lahiru Samarakoon | run out (Kusal Mendis) | 6 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 60.00 |
| Richard Ngarava | not out | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 150.00 |
| Kasun Rajitha | run out (Kusal Mendis) | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Extras | 9 (b 1 , lb 3 , nb 0, w 5, pen 0) |
| Total | 133/9 (20 Overs, RR: 6.65) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binura Fernando | 4 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 3.50 | |
| Hasan Ali | 4 | 0 | 27 | 1 | 6.75 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 2 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 7.00 | |
| Hayden Kerr | 3 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 8.00 | |
| Dushan Hemantha | 4 | 0 | 31 | 2 | 7.75 | |
| Noor Ahmad | 3 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 6.33 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avishka Fernando | not out | 70 | 49 | 3 | 3 | 142.86 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Sohan de Livera b Lahiru Kumara | 18 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 75.00 |
| Sadeera Samarawickrama | b Lahiru Kumara | 25 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 138.89 |
| Kusal Janith | lbw b Shakib Al Hasan | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 62.50 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | not out | 6 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 85.71 |
| Extras | 10 (b 0 , lb 2 , nb 0, w 8, pen 0) |
| Total | 134/3 (17.4 Overs, RR: 7.58) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kasun Rajitha | 3 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 4.00 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 4 | 0 | 31 | 2 | 7.75 | |
| Richard Ngarava | 2.4 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 13.75 | |
| Shakib Al Hasan | 4 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 5.00 | |
| Lahiru Samarakoon | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8.00 | |
| Dasun Shanaka | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 12.00 | |
| Ashan Priyanjan | 2 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 8.00 | |
 to beat the Galle Titans in Match No. 14 of the Lanka Premier League 2023, played at R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo.){kind=link}