Wanindu Hasaranga (B-Love Kandy captain): Really happy with this win! The availability of Dushmantha Chameera and the luxury of having wicket-taking bowlers like Mujeeb Ur Rahman, myself helped a lot today. We hope to keep this performance continued. 

Kusal Mendis (Dambulla Aura captain): I think we were around 15 to 20 runs short and I guess out top order needed to fire today. We need to stitch together better partnerships as we go forward in this tournament. 

BLK won by 7 wickets

BLK - 160/3 (18.3 overs)
Dinesh Chandimal - 48(29) | Angelo Mathews - 28(20)
Dhananjaya de Silva - 1/16 | Hayden Kerr - 1/28

BLK finally gets their first win of the LPL 2023 season after a dominant performance to outclass DA by 7 wickets. They have looked very good as a unit and delivered across all fronts to seal the tie comfortably in the end. 

After restricting DA to a par score of 156, Fakhar Zaman and Dinesh Chandimal gave BLK the perfect start to their run chase. The duo scripted an opening stand of 69 runs to build the foundation for a win. Dinesh Chandimal continued propelling the scoreboard after Zaman's dismissal and narrowly missed out on his half-century due to a runout. 

Angelo Mathews once again gave a sheer testament of his experience to see his team over the line with a deft knock while Asif Ali's quick cameo helped BLK cap off a confident win in style.

For DA, Dhananjaya de Silva and Hayden Kerr were the only wicket-takers with one scalp apiece.  

18.3 Shahnawaz Dahani to Asif Ali, FOUR RUNS TO FINISH THE MATCH! B-LOVE KANDY GET THEIR FIRST WIN! Short on leg-stump. Asif Ali gets inside the line and pulls it away to long-leg for an authoritative boundary! 

18.3 Shahnawaz Dahani to Asif Ali, WIDE down the leg-side on this occasion with the attempted yorker. Scores are level. 

18.2 Shahnawaz Dahani to Angelo Mathews, good length ball around off-stump. Knocked away to deep cover off the back foot for a single to rotate strike. 

18.1 Shahnawaz Dahani to Angelo Mathews, round the wicket, SIX! Short around off-stump. Mathews hung back and used the depth of the crease to smash it away over deep mid-wicket for a maximum! 

Shahnawaz Dahani to bowl the penultimate over

Kerr bowls a tight over to deny the BLK batters score any boundary and keep DA's chances alive in the contest. Kandy just needs to keep doing what they are doing and ensure not to give away any wickets. BLK need 9 more from 12 balls. 

17.6 Hayden Kerr to Asif Ali, full and in the block hole on off-stump. Asif Ali moved around the crease to squeeze it out for one but fails to do so. All he manages is a squirt back to the bowler. 

17.5 Hayden Kerr to Angelo Mathews, good length slower ball around leg-stump. Mathews makes room and punches it down to long-off for a single. 

17.4 Hayden Kerr to Asif Ali, yorker on middle-and-off. Asif Ali managed to squeeze it out to short third man and take a quick single! 

17.4 Hayden Kerr to Asif Ali, full and too WIDE outside the line of off-stump on this occasion! Will have to re-bowl that one. 

17.3 Hayden Kerr to Angelo Mathews, good length ball on off-stump. Mathews tried to heave it over mid-wicket but got an inside edge only to pick up one to the right of the bowler. 

17.2 Hayden Kerr to Asif Ali, full on off-stump. Driven away to long-on off the middle of the bat with a lot of wrist work involved for a single. 

17.1 Hayden Kerr to Angelo Mathews, full on middle-stump. Whipped away to deep mid-wicket from the back foot for a single. This was a thick inside edge in the end with the bat turning in the hands. 

Hayden Kerr continues from the other end

An expensive over from Binura to hurt their cause - concedes a couple of boundaries and ends up leaking 13 runs. The equation is down to less than run-a-ball. BLK need 15 more from 18 balls