Stallions have only embellished their reputation as the team to beat at the LPL, though they haven't played the dangerous Colombo Kings yet. That's it for our coverage from this game. Join us for the second match of the evening - Dambulla Viiking v Kandy Tuskers, in a bit.

Avishka Fernando is the player of the match: "I don't panic too much when I chase, because I know exactly how many we need. I didn't have a particular plan to target the spinners. If the ball is in my zone I hit the shot and today it worked well."

Stallions captain Thisara Perera: "It's not a secret. We're planning well and executing well. Everyone's contributing. We had some top order issues but we saw how Avishka batted today, which is good to see. We have so many youngsters in the side, so in the next few matches we can try a few things."

Gladiators captain Bhanuka Rajapaksa: "We're still having hope. We just need one win to get ourselves closer to that semi-final. We wanted to score at least 180. We lost three wickets in quick succession, and we were short at least five or ten runs. We have two match-winning spinners in our side but unfortunately it didn't work out for us today."

Stallions didn't quite run away with this one, but aside from a couple of hairy moments, they weren't exactly pushed either. Another relatively comfortable win for them.

Gladiators, though, now have their fourth defeat in a row. Their weak finish with the bat, in which they hit only 18 runs off the last 19 balls of the innings, was awful. They should have been headed to 190 after Danushka Gunathilaka's half-century, but the lower middle order couldn't find any timing.

Wanindu Hasaranga was excellent again for Stallions. He got hit for 15 in one of his overs, and still returned figures of 2 for 29 from his four overs - Gunathilaka among his victims. With the bat, he came out at slightly tense moment in the chase with Stallions needing 18 off 12 and having lost a bit of momentum, but he effortlessly stroked four boundaries off Mohammad Amir's last over and all-but sealed the win.

Avishka Fernando was good too, and provided the guts of the Stallions innings with an 84 off 59 balls - his second 80-plus score against Gladiators in the LPL. He started slowly but found his timing eventually. He and Minod Bhanuka put on 99 for the second wicket.

Kapil Baldawa: "Awful fielding, missed catches, poor bowling and now their spearhead Amir comes and gives away 2 easy boundaries. This is not what you expect from an overseas pro. No yorker or quick bouncer. Oh my.. only if standards were higher "

Akila Dananjaya to bowl the last. Only three to get for Stalions.