Cricket Highlights, 13 Aug: LPL 2023 (Match 16) – Dambulla Aura vs Colombo Strikers: Dambulla Aura stick to the top spot, with their 4th consecutive win

Dambulla Aura vs Colombo Strikers (Match 16) – Highlights

Dambulla Aura registered a massive 50-run win over Colombo Strikers in the 16th match of the Lankan Premier League (LPL) 2023. Along with the triumph in this match, Dambulla Aura has maintained its position at the top of the points table by winning the 4th match in a row. On the other hand, Colombo Strikers have now slipped to the bottom of the standings with two wins and four losses in 6 matches.

Dambulla Aura captain Kusal Mendis won the toss and decided to bat first at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Going down to Bat, Dambulla Aura collected a fighting score of 166 runs, losing 5 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs. In reply, the bowling canon of Dambulla Aura’s bowlers ended the Colombo Strikers’ innings they put up 116 runs on the board in 19.4 overs. 

Dambulla Aura‘s batsmen did not get off to a good start. They lost three wickets to score 24 runs in 4.4 overs. Opener Avishka Fernando, who played well in the previous match, got back to the dugout after scoring only 7 runs being a victim to Naseem Shah. Then Kusal (7) and Sadeera Samarawickrama (1) got out one by one.

Dambulla Aura was in danger when all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva (11) returned to the pavilion for the team’s 46 runs. From there, Ben McDermott and Alex Ross brought the team back into the match. These two together made an impeccable partnership of 102 runs facing 71 deliveries. McDermott brought up his half-century by hitting two consecutive sixes in the last two balls of the 18th over of the innings.

On the other hand, Ross scored a half-century playing 36 balls on the first ball of the next over. But after that, this devastating batsman could not increase the innings. He returned to the pavilion after falling victim to Matheesha Pathirana in the 4th ball of the 19th over. Ross made 52 runs in 38 balls smashing 5 fours and 2 sixes. 

But McDermott left the field undefeated despite Ross’ departure. He played a brilliant innings of 69 runs off 46 balls, with an equal number of 4 fours and sixes. Besides, Hasan Ali remained unbeaten with 6 runs off 5 balls. Matheesha Pathirana took the leading number of 2 wickets for Colombo Strikers. Besides, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Karunaratne, and Naseem Shah took 1 wicket each.

The Colombo Strikers batsmen got off to a promising start chasing the challenging target of 167 runs. Despite losing 3 wickets in 6 overs of power play, they picked up 56 runs. But even though the batsmen were getting quick runs, the bowlers of Dambulla Aura bowled right on the line length. Controlled bowling by the bowlers also slowed down the run rate. 

As a result, the score of the team was 56 runs in 6 overs and stood at 100 runs for 5 wickets at the end of 15 overs. After that, they started losing wickets at regular intervals due to the pressure of scoring runs. In the end, the innings of the Colombo Strikers stopped after scoring 116 runs with two balls left in the innings.

Hasan Ali took the highest number of 3 wickets conceding only 16 runs in 4 overs for Dambulla Aura. Besides, Noor Ahmad took 2 wickets with 14 runs in 4 overs, Dushan Hemantha took 2 wickets with 16 runs in 4 overs and Binura Fernando took 2 wickets with 18 runs in 3.4 overs. Janith Liyanage also got 1 wicket. Undoubtedly, Ben McDermott was selected as the player of the match after playing a great innings.

Dambulla Aura vs Colombo Strikers Scoreboard

Dambulla Aura – 166/5 (20.0)

Colombo Strikers – 116/10 (19.4)

Result – Dambulla Aura won by 50 runs

Player of the match – Ben McDermott

Ben McDermott

Dambulla Aura vs Colombo Strikers Playing Xis