That brings us to the end of our coverage from this LPL encounter. This is myself (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty) signing off. Goodnight! 

Ben McDermott (Player of the Match): Was very challenging to start with. Had a real bit of luck here and there. Run a ball till 30 and it was nice to kick on. We kept losing wickets and lucky enough that Rossy batted well and it was nice to bat with him. We didn't have a number - we wanted to be till the end. That was the message we got from the coach during the strategic timeout.

Dambulla Aura won by 50 runs

Ben McDermott 69*(46) | Hasan Ali 3/16(4)
Nuwanidu Fernando 21(20) | Matheesha Pathirana 2/36(4)


That's the 4th consecutive win for the Dambulla Aura and they have ensured a top-two finish. Colombo Strikers were never really in the run chase barring the time when Niroshan Dickwella and Nuwanidu Fernando were going great guns. Pathum Nissanka started with a few delightful shots and departed soon after. 

Babar Azam's stay in the crease was also short-lived as Hasan Ali brought about the departure of his Pakistan skipper. Nuwanidu Fernando looked in great touch and played some exquisite shots during his knock of 21. Once Dickwella was dismissed, the required rate kept climbing and wickets never really allowed them to get going. In the end, a 50-run win was a comprehensive victory for Dambulla Aura.

19.4 Binura Fernando to Chamika Karunaratne, WICKET! Fuller well wide outside off, Karunaratne throws his hands at that and ends up getting an outside edge as he tries to thrash it over covers. Safely taken by the keeper. 

19.3 Binura Fernando to Chamika Karunaratne, low full toss a shade outside off, drilled towards the widish long on region and refuses the single again. 

19.2 Binura Fernando to Chamika Karunaratne, slices away the length delivery a shade outside off down towards the deep point fielder. 

19.1 Binura Fernando to Chamika Karunaratne, yorker length delivery around middle, driven down the ground but finds the long-off fielder and doesn't take the single. 

18.6 Hasan Ali to Jeffrey Vandersay, yorker around middle, Vandersay digs this out back to the bowler. 

18.5 Hasan Ali to Matthesha Pathirana, WICKET! Pathirana bites the dust as one more goes for the Colombo Strikers. On a length a shade outside off, Pathirana swings across the line and ends up getting a leading edge which has been very well taken by Noor Ahmad at backward point fielder. 

18.4 Hasan Ali to Matthesha Pathirana, slower fuller one a shade outside off, Pathirana swings across the line and gets beaten. 

18.3 Hasan Ali to Matthesha Pathirana, digs out the yorker-length delivery back to the bowler. 

18.2 Hasan Ali to Naseem Shah, WICKET! Fuller well wide outside off, Naseem had to reach out for it. He ends up reaching out for it but only manages to slice that away from the outside half of the bat and carries all the way to the deep cover-point fielder. 

18.1 Hasan Ali to Chamika Karunaratne, fuller around middle stump, driven down the ground towards the long-on region for a single. 

17.6 Binura Fernando to Chamika Karunaratne, works away the low full toss around middle stump towards the long-on region for a single. 

17.5 Binura Fernando to Naseem Shah, dropped again by the widish long-off fielder. Samarawickrama drops another one. Fuller a shade outside off, that has been sliced down the ground and another dropped chance. Hasan Ali consoles him. 

17.4 Binura Fernando to Naseem Shah, slower delivery again. Naseem comes down the track and hacks across the line only to get beaten all ends up.