full, wide of off, he tries to flay it through the offside but just gets an outside edge, which Mendis - who has kept very well - takes a simple catch going across. That's the game folks.
Aura vs Colombo, 16th Match at Colombo, LPL, Aug 12 2023 - Ball by Ball Commentary
That's it from us folks. We will be with you for that double header tomorrow.
Aura, now are definitely in the playoffs. But there's three more spots up for grabs. Jaffna Kings can join them there if they beat the Galle Titans in the first game. And then B-Love Kandy take on Colombo Strikers in the evening. Till then, take it easy.
Aura captain Mendis: The pitch is much better today than yesterday. Even though we lost a few wickets in the first few overs, we were able to put on a big partnership through McDermott and Ross, who showed they can perform in these conditions. I have personally only been able to score satisfactorily in one match, but my teammates are scoring heavily and helping the team well. In T20s you only need one or two batters to score heavily. Hopefully I can score in the next games.
Losing captain Dickwella: We did well to the 15th over, and after that I missed a chance and we couldn't execute well. I think it was 20 runs too much. We were one of the best teams in the first part of the tournament and since then we've dropped a few catches and we've lost games.
Player of the match is Ben McDermott for his 69 off 42.
McDermott: It was very challenging to start with. Had a bit of luck. We kept losing wickets so I had to play to the end. We had Ross play a beautiful innings as well. We just tried to score a lot towards the end of the innings and we were lucky enough to do that tonight.
Dambulla Aura now go to the top of the table with that victory. They've got 10 points, with five wins from seven matches.
It didn't seem like such a daunting total when they got there, but Noor Ahmad and Dushan Hemantha absolutely dominated the middle overs, and Hasan Ali did beautifully both with the new ball and at the end, with a solid assist from Binura Fernando.
Earlier, it had been the 102-run stand between McDermott and Ross and set Aura up with their total, after they'd been 46 for 4, with a 102-run stand that came off 72 balls.
full toss outside off. Drilled to long on. Not sure why Karunaratne is not running. Strikers can't win anyway
fullish, angled across the stumps, Karunaratne throws his bat at it and tries to bang it over cow corner, Gets a leading edge towards deep third instead and doesn't take a run
full, yorker length outside off. Driven to long off. They refuse the run
Binura Fernando to bowl the last
Hasan's finished off a mighty spell.
fullish ball outside off, driven to mid on.
Vandersay's the new guy.
another one for Hasan, who has bowled nicely. This is length wide outside off, which Pathirana tries to drag to the legside. it takes the top edge and flies towards short fine leg, where the fielder goes back and takes a good catch, the ball coming over his shoulder
yorker outside off, Pathirana throws a bat at it and can't connect
length ball speared in at the stumps, blocked out to leg.
Pathirana is in now.
full, wide, and lifted, almost like catching practice, into a safe pair of hands at deep cover. Naseem was going to throw his bat, but he hit it high instead of long, and the fielder there is safe. He accepts the catch gleefully and holds it close to his chest.
fullish ball on off stump, driven powerfully down the ground, but long on is across it
52 in 12. It's pretty much impossible here for Strikers. What a bowling performance from Aura.
Here's Hasan to bowl his last.
fullish on the stumps, driven to long on
dropped! This one Sadeera Samarawickrama should have caught. That was a length ball nailed but straight to long off, who could have taken it at waist height but shells it
that's another good length ball, tighter into the stumps this time, another wild swing, another miss
another swing and miss outside off, to another slower one I think
slower length ball outside off, a play and a miss
a big leading edge and dropped! This is a full ball on off that Karunaratne tries to bash over long on. He gets a big edge to it and it flies high towards long off, but the advancing Samarawickrama can't hold on to a slippery ball (there's dew)
Beautiful bowling from Aura's two wristspinners. Noor has done exceedingly well. But Hemantha has supported him wonderfully too.
The seamers have to close it out. Here's Binura Fernando.
NOOOOOOOOR! What a spell! That may very well be a match-winning effort. This is a flat, fast, stock ball with plenty of revs. Nawaz goes back and tries to bash it through leg. The ball doesn't bounce though, and it hits the off stump flush.
gets a flat stock ball on target this time. This pitches on leg (from around the wicket to the right hander) and straightens. Karunaratne drops it to the legside and runs
fires this down leg. Mendis gets a pad behind it. This is great keeping as well as ambitious bowling.
bowls a big googly, but way down off. Mendis again fast to get to it and stop it.
Over 20 • CLS 116/10