Kandy Falcons brush aside hapless Dambulla Aura

Ashen Bandara gave a late impetus to the Kandy Falcons innings with 42* off 22 balls

Carlos Brathwaite destroyed the Dambulla top order with three wickets

Kamindu Mendis of Kandy Falcons celebrates his maiden half-century in the LPL

Kandy Falcons bounced back from a rare defeat against Galle Gladiators to trounce hapless Dambulla Aura by 77 runs and regain the leadership in the Lanka Premier League table at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

In the first double-header of the day, Kandy displayed their all-rounder superiority running up an imposing total of 193-3 and disposing off Dambulla for 116 in 14.2 overs which gave their net run rate a tremendous boost. 

The game turned out to be a totally one-sided affair as a struggling Dambulla under the leadership of national white ball captain Dasun Shanaka and former Sri Lanka national coach Mickey Arthur were left searching for their first win in the tournament after four matches.

Kandy’s decision to bat first after winning the toss proved to their advantage as their top five batters all contributed lavishly towards the total. Pathum Nissanka (26) and Andre Fletcher (44 off 31 balls, 4 fours,3 sixes) laid the foundation with a stand of 48 off 35 balls for a very strong batting performance from the rest of the team.

Kamindu Mendis built on that platform with his maiden LPL fifty ─ a perky innings of 58 off 40 balls (9 fours). There was nothing extravagant about his batting but it was all about control and playing the reverse sweep to good effect. 

Ashen Bandara took over from there to provide an inspiring finish to the innings with a lightning knock of 42* off 22 balls (4 fours, 1 six) in the company of Najibullah Zadran (16* off 8 balls).

Dambulla paid a heavy price for lack of intent on the field with their inability to take early wickets through poor bowling and no support on the field. The fielding between the two sides was a massive contrast.

By the end of the first power play the Dambulla innings was in tatters at 44-5 with Carlos Brathwaite and Chamika Karunaratne having done the damage with the new ball. Brathwaite was on a hat-trick in the power play phase for the third time in the tournament. 

With his skill to move the ball in and away from the batsmen and hitting consistent lengths with good control Brathwaite accounted for Ramesh Mendis and Shanaka off successive balls in the sixth over to end with figures of 3 for 25. From that point onwards Dambulla never got their chase going and their batsmen were guilty of throwing away their wickets. 

Young Chamindu Wijesinghe capitalised on those mistakes to capture three wickets for 25 in only his second LPL game. 

The batting, bowling and fielding of Dambulla has gone nowhere in the tournament and it was no surprise to hear the comments from a frustrated captain Shanaka: “It’s so embarrassing. On other days we’ve struggled with the bat, today with the ball as well. Every game there have been mistakes. Nothing happens for us. Bowlers don’t bowl well, and then the batters don’t take responsibility. We all are established players and we need to take responsibility in the middle.” – (ST)

Scores: 

Kandy Falcons 193-3 (20) (Pathum Nissanka 26, Andre Fletcher 44, Kamindu Mendis 58, Ashen Bandara 42*)

Dambulla Aura 116 (14.2) (Chaturanga de Silva 25, Noor Ahmed 20, Carlos Brathwaite 3/25, Chamika Karunaratne 2/11, Fabian Allen 2/5, Chamindu Wijesinghe 3/25)