Sri Lanka deny Zimbabwe dream tri-series victory
Sri Lanka have coasted to a nine-wicket victory with 92 balls to spare in the final of the tri-series in Zimbabwe, ending the host’s dreams of taking an upset series triumph over much more highly rated opposition.
Although Sri Lanka may have left some of their biggest names back home for this series – think Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene among others – when it came to the final they sent the best of their available firepower onto the field, with Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis and Nuwan Kulasekara all included for the match.
After restricting Zimbabwe to a total of just 199, Tillakaratne Dilshan (108 not out) began Sri Lanka’s run chase confidently, finding the boundary five times inside the first five overs, before getting a little lucky when he edged a turning Ray Price delivery to a vacant slip cordon in during the spinner’s first over of the match.
The next ball, the skipper sent a sweep shot fine to find the ropes for the sixth time for the innings, as Price was left to ponder the injustice of it all.
It wasn’t just Dilshan collecting runs either, as Upul Tharanga began to build his score after a slower start to proceedings than his opening partner as both batsmen went on to bring up their half centuries within the first 18 overs of their team’s reply.
Just as it seemed Sri Lanka would reach the target without losing a wicket, Tharanga (72 from 79 balls) was run out when a mix-up saw the left-hander sacrifice his wicket to ensure his skipper remained at the crease long enough to bring up his century and play the decisive role in his team’s victory.
Earlier in the day, the visitors claimed the first small victory of the match with Dilshan winning the toss and sending Zimbabwe in to bat first. His side then made early breakthrough when Hamilton Masakadza edged a swinging Kulasekara delivery through to the keeper, dismissed for four after soaking up 23 deliveries.
The big wicket came in the 10th over of the match when the in-form Brendan Taylor (19) was brilliantly caught by Thilan Samaraweera at gully. The opener had made 100 more runs than today’s score when the side’s last met in the dead rubber sixth match of the tri-series, which also included India.
Former Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu stood firm for 71 runs, but ultimately gave away his wicket cheaply in the 26th over to become Dilhara Fernando’s second victim of the day (he finished with figures of 3-36), after earlier surviving the mix-up that resulted in the run-out of Craig Ervine for just nine. From there, the game really began to slip away from the African side.
The hosts avoided further loss of wickets until the 41st over, when Elton Chigumbura gave up his wicket for 10 to leave his side at 5-155, with Greg Lamb (37) and Charles Coventry (18) following soon after.
The batting Powerplay taken too late, in the 46th over with no recognised batsmen left to, Zimbabwe limped towards the 200-run mark as wickets continued to fall.
The final wicket, that of Chris Mpofu (six), fell on the last ball of the 49th over, leaving Chigumbura’s team stranded on 199 – a total that would ultimately prove insufficient to secure a fairytale finish to the series for the hosts.
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