Kusals carry Dambulla Aura to final

Dambulla Aura captain Kusal Mendis played a captain’s knock of 49 to take his team over the line

Kusal Perera made a timely return to form for Dambulla Aura with a half-century

Lasith Croospulle of Galle Titans drives on his way to a maiden LPL fifty

• Galle Titans lose Qualifier 1 by six wickets

Dambulla Aura showed yesterday why they are the team to beat in the fourth edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) when they came up with a thoroughly professional performance to pull off a six-wicket win over Galle Titans in Qualifier 1 played at the R Premadasa Stadium yesterday and gain straight entry into the final on Sunday.

Having dismissed Galle for 146 in 20 overs, Dambulla led by their captain Kusal Mendis paced their run chase perfectly to win with two balls to spare, scoring 147-4. It was the highest run chase at this venue in the current tournament, the previous one being also between the two teams when Dambulla beat Galle by seven wickets chasing 134 in a league match.

Dambulla’s chase was measured and clinical and their batsmen played with calm heads to reach their target quite comfortably and register their sixth win in a row.

A lot of credit to Mendis for staying out there and playing a captain’s knock of 49 off 45 balls (6 fours). He played an anchor role building up partnerships of 33 with Avishka Fernando (24), 31 with Sadeera Samarawickrama (13) and 69 with Kusal Perera to see his team over the line and into the final. He also passed a milestone when he became only the second batsman after Avishka Fernando to reach 1,000 runs in the LPL.

It was a pleasing sight to see Perera back in the runs. Hampered by injuries Perera, who has been monitored very carefully in this tournament made his presence felt with a forceful 53 off 39 balls (4 fours, 3 sixes). He displayed the full repertoire of strokes in his armoury to score his third fifty in the LPL after surviving a dropped return catch to Seekkuge Prasanna at two.

For Galle who sneaked through the back door into Qualifier 1, it’s not all doom and gloom because they get another chance to enter the final when they take on the winner of the Eliminator in Qualifier 2 on Saturday.

With the exception of Lasith Croospulle none of the Galle batsmen fired which saw them fall short by at least 20 runs after being invited to bat first by Dambulla. Croospulle played a delightful innings of 80 off 61 balls (7 fours).

On a demanding pitch when Galle needed to score quickly to up their run rate to displace B-Love Kandy for the second place Croospulle delivered with a spunky 42*. Yesterday, right from the beginning of his innings he looked comfortable picking up the gaps and scoring runs off the loose deliveries, reaching his maiden LPL 50 off 33 balls (6 fours). He played an innings of substance when no one else was able to come to terms with the pitch. But after completing that landmark, Croospulle somewhat lost his fluency which he had displayed from the beginning of his innings and was out of sorts against the spin of Dushmantha Hemantha and Noor Ahmed. He was dropped at 71 by Noor off Binura Fernando and towards the end of his innings he unfortunately lost steam on a hot and steamy day and was eventually run out in the penultimate ball of the innings. Dambulla bowlers kept the Galle batting in check with their spinners and seamers bowling economically. Left-arm seamer Hayden Kerr was the pick of them with 3/18. – (ST)