Jamaican Fabian Allen had very little to do as South African Rilee Rossouw starred with an unbeaten 108 that lifted Jaffna Kings to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Colombo Strikers in Match 13 of the Lanka Premier League on Wednesday.

After Allen took one wicket for 26 runs to assist in restricting the Strikers to 188-8, Rossouw exploded in the Kings turn at bat, smashing 12 boundaries and six maximums in a 50-ball knock that secured victory at 190-3 with nine balls to spare, at Dambulla.

Scores: Colombo Strikers 188-8 (20 overs); Jaffna Kings 190-3 (18.3 overs)

After electing to bowl first, the Kings made early inroads, as Asitha Fernando removed Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who made a quick fire 11-ball 27, with the score at 34-1.

Allen took 1-26 from four overs.

Glenn Phillips, with a 32-ball 58, and Angelo Perera, who was left unbeaten on 34, added 86 for the second wicket, before the latter retired hurt. Phillips’ struck six fours and three sixes in his top score, before he fell in the 15th over.

Following his dismissal, the remaining Strikers batsmen struggled to find rhythm, as Fernando (2-38) and Azmatullah Omarzai (2-31) did most damage for the Kings, with Allen getting in on the act.

Meanwhile, the Kings run chase started shakily, as the lost openers Pathum Nissanka (six) and Kusal Mendis (five), with the score at 30-2, before the Rossouw show.

The aggressive left-hander found a useful partner in Avishka Fernando, who made 58 off 35 balls, including seven fours and two sixes. The two put together a record third-wicket partnership of 120 runs, which surpassed the franchise’s previous best of 110 between Shoaib Malik and Avishka Fernando.

Though Fernando fell in the 15th over to Shadab Khan, the damage was already done, and Rossouw pressed on to seal the win, their fourth of the campaign.

With the win, Kings assumed pole position on the league table with eight points, followed by Galle Marvels (six points), with the Strikers, Dambulla Sixers and Kandy Falcons, all on four points each.

A solid bowling effort from West Indian all-rounder Fabian Allen was not enough to prevent the Jaffna Kings from going sown by five wickets to the Galle Marvels in match two of the 2024 Lanka Premier League at the Pallekele International Stadium on Tuesday.

The Kings, after winning the toss and batting first, posted 177-7 from their 20 overs.

Avishka Fernando was the main contributor for the three-time champions with 59 from 48 balls while Pathum Nissanka hit 51 off 33 balls.

Fernando’s innings included seven fours and a six while Nissanka hit six fours and two sixes.

Captain Charith Asalanka also contributed a 15-ball 33 against 3-34 off four overs from Zahoor Khan and 2-23 from four overs from Dwayne Pretorius.

The Marvels then used all of the 120 balls available to them to successfully chase down their target.

Alex Hales led the way with 65 off 47 balls including seven fours and two sixes while Captain Niroshan Dickwella made 47 off 27 balls including eight fours and a six as Galle reached 179-5 off 20 overs.

Janith Liyanage also made a crucial 13-ball 25 for Galle. It eventually came down to them needing three runs off the last ball, a ball that Sahan Arachchige hit for four to seal the win.

Fabian Allen took 2-33 from his four overs for the Kings.

Full Scores:

Jaffna Kings 177-7 off 20 overs (Avishka Fernando 59, Pathum Nissanka 51, Charith Asalanka 33, Zahoor Khan 3-34, Dwayne Pretorius 2-23)

Galle Marvels 179-5 off 20 overs (Alex Hales 65, Niroshan Dickwella 47, Janith Liyanage 25, Fabian Allen 2-33, Avishka Fernando 2-40)

The Jaffna Kings are champions of the Lanka Premier League after securing a hard-fought two- wicket win over the Colombo Stars in the final at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday.

The Stars made 163-5 from their 20 overs after the Kings won the toss and elected to field first. Dinesh Chandimal (49), Ravi Bopara (47 not out) and Charith Asalanka (31) all continued their good form from yesterday’s second qualifier to propel the Stars to their score.

Needing 164 to win, Avishka Fernando (50), Sadeera Samarawickrama (44) and Rahmanulla Gurbaz (36) led the way as the Kings reached 164-8 off 19.2 overs to win their third straight LPL title.

Suranga Lakmal (3-23) and Benny Howell (2-17) tried their best for the stars while Dominic Drakes went for 14 runs from his two overs.

A whirlwind knock of 47 from Fabian Allen and Carlos Brathwaite’s four-wicket haul steered Kandy Falcons to a 10-run win over Jaffna Kings in their Lanka Premier League match-up in Pallekele on Wednesday.

Allen smashed three fours and four sixes to rally Kandy Falcons to 160-8 after they had slumped to 79-6 in the 14^th over despite 35 from Andre Fletcher and 24 from Ashan Bandara, who was dismissed in the 17^th over with the score at 119.

Allen raced to his 47 in just 23 balls before he was dismissed mid-way the final over when the score was 151. Chamika Karunaratne, who was not out on 18 at the end, pushed the score to 160-8.

Dunith Wellalage was the best of the Jaffna Kings bowlers taking 2-7 while James Fuller took 2-28.

Jaffna Kings made a good go of the chase for 161 thanks in large part to the efforts of Avishka Fernando who made 33 from 20 balls before he was bowled by Allen and Sadeera Samarawickrama, whose steady 48 from 41 balls held the innings together.

He was eventually dismissed by Hasaranga de Silva (2-21), who also took the key wicket of Shoaib Malik for eight, which exposed Jaffna Kings’ lower middle order to Brathwaite, who scythed through the line up with the wickets of Thisara Perera (2), Dunith Wellalage (1) and Fuller for 16, to take swing the match heavily in favour of his side.

The giant Barbadian had earlier taken the wicket of Dhananjaya de Silva (0) to finish with figures of 4-18 as Jaffna Kings’ innings closed on 150-9.

The appropriately named Jaffna Kings, the team of West Indies fast bowler Jayden Seales, continue to reign supreme after defeating the Galle Gladiators by 23 runs in Thursday’s final to claim their second Lankan Premier League title.

The Kings took first strike and got off to a good start thanks to openers Avishka Fernando and Rahmanullah Gurbaz.  Gurbaz was the first to go in the sixth over for 35 with the score at 56-1.

Englishman Tom Kohler-Cadmore then joined Fernando and the two put on a further 63 runs before Fernando was dismissed by Nuwan Thushara for a top score of 63 from 41 deliveries.

The score at Fernando’s dismissal was 119-2 off 12.4 overs when Shoaib Malik came to the crease to join Kohler-Cadmore.  The pair put on a further 62 runs before Malik was dismissed in the 19^th over for 23 off 11 balls with the score at 181-3 off 18.2 overs.

Kings captain Thisara Perera strode to the crease to give them a big finish along with Kohler-Cadmore to post a daunting 201-3 off their 20 overs, with Kohler-Cadmore finishing not out on 57 from 41 balls and Perera finishing with 17 off 9 balls.

Thushara and Samit Patel were the best bowlers on the day for the Gladiators, bowling their four overs with figures of 1-32 and 1-33, respectively.

The reply from the Gladiators got off to a spectacular start with openers Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka racing to 63-0 at the start of the fifth over before Gunathilaka was dismissed by Wanindu Hasaranga for a blazing 54 off just 21 balls.

Things went from bad to worse for Galle as Australian batsman Ben Dunk was dismissed by Hasaranga off the very next ball for a duck, leaving them 63-2 from 4.3 overs.

Mohammed Hafeez then joined Mendis at the crease to attempt to stabilize the innings.  He didn’t last long as he was run out in the sixth over for 10 from six balls, leaving Galle now 84-3 from 6.2 overs.

Mendis was now joined at the wicket by captain Bhanuka Rajapaksa and the pair put on a further 29 runs before Rajapaksa was dismissed for 14 from 16 balls to leave them 113-4 from 10.4 overs.

Mendis was finally dismissed in the 14^th over for 39 off 28 balls to leave the team 129-5 from 13.1 overs.

Dhananjaya Lakshan and Pulina Tharanga were then both dismissed in quick succession by Chatarunga de Silva to leave the score at 143-7 from 15.5 overs.

Samit Patel, who came to the crease at the fall of Rajapaksa’s wicket, made a solid 22 from 20 balls before he became the eighth wicket on the last ball of the 18^th over.

The Gladiators ended their reply 178-9 off 20 overs to fall short by 23 runs.  Wanindu Hasaranga was the pick of the bowlers for the Kings with 2-30 from his four overs.

Seales took 1-36 from his three overs for the Kings.

Following a trend from the Abu Dhabi T10, where he batted consistently well while his team developed a habit of losing, Rovman Powell scored a magnificent half-century for Kandy Warriors Wednesday only for them to lose by 14 runs (D/L) to the Jaffna Kings in the Lankan Premier League.