Zimbabwe up against Sri Lanka in the finale
Finale of Trination Series featuring Sri Lanka, India and Zimbabwe is being played today between the mighty Sri Lankans and the underdogs of underdogs, Zimbabwe - who after beating Indians twice emerged as real heroes.
Zimbabwe has played two fabulous games against Indians but had a rancid day against Sri Lanka. As their new coach situate it, "Frankly today we were rubbish!” So this match, a dead rubber, should go towards interesting viewing in that perspective”.
Neil Manthorp in the while talking about the wicket status reckoned it should not matter whether you bat first or bowl first on this track. Allan Donald, talking to a sports channel said that, it looks like a beautiful pitch and there should not be much dampness in it. In the early part of the match the ball might impede a touch on the batsmen.
Zimbabwe after winning the toss elected to field first. Chigumbura, captain of Zimbabwe, said that the wicket has been very good. In their previous matches as well bowling first has made them win the match and they want to continue it.
Sri Lankan skipper Dilshan said that they wanted to bat first today. He said that they just want to see how many runs they can score and how their bowlers will defend the target set by the batsmen. Dilshan said that 260+ will be a fine score.
Some of the changes have been made in the squad of both the teams. Greg Lamb and Blignaut are not playing because of some niggles. Chris Mpofu and Chamu Chibhabha are in for them while on Sri Lankan side Mendis and Kulasekara are being rested with Dilhara Fernando and Lahiru Thirimanne in.
Though Zimbabwe's trial with seamers did not work as such, their spinners - aggressive, accurate with a back up of first-class fielding, tempered a rollicking Sri Lankan innings to offer the hosts a flaxen chance of concluding on top of the table. Led by the captain, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sri Lanka mauled the new ball, scoring 116 in 20 overs, but Zimbabwe's spinner arsenal clogged them in the middle overs, taking regular wickets as in the rest of the piece all the 10 wickets fell with an addition of just 120 runs to the scorecard.
With one of their four spinners resting outside the ground, the seamers bowled 13 out of the initial 15 overs, and Dilshan smashed them around giving his team its best start of the tournament. Coming into the tri-series out of form, Dilshan has enhanced with every innings and was free-flowing in his 78 off 66 balls. With Andy Blignaut and Greg Lamb out with slight niggles, Zimbabwe tried their seamer’s overs out of the way early. Chris Mpofu was stable, but Chamu Chibhabha and Elton Chigumbura did not get much out of the arena, nor did they have the rate of knots to trouble Dilshan. In all their first 13 overs Sri Lankan’s raced away to 89 runs, Dilshan clutching 54 of those: total nine boundaries with eight fours and a six in them.
Things came under control when Ray Price was introduced in the 12th over but by that time Tharanga, having hit three fours in a Chibhabha over, had opened up too. Dilshan was not ready to settle for a dreary middle-over build-up either: he smacked another four and six ahead of falling victim to his own assault in the 21st over.
Prosper Utseya, who stumped Dilshan, continued with Dinesh Chandimal's wicket in the 25th over, and Zimbabwe had started fighting back. A change in the bowling came with Hamilton Masakadza bowling for the first time in the tournament. He accepted a simple return catch off his third ball. Just for 33 runs, three wickets had gone and Sri Lanka was enforced into consolidation, an enchantment during which Tharanga achieved his fifty, but also a stint during which Zimbabweans kept the field up and did not let easy singles.
Tharanga at last played a shot of aggravation, getting too close to a Cremer delivery and holing out to long-off. Mendis seemed quite innovate, but also got under a pull shot off Cremer. Thilan Samaraweera was run out when he tried to run off a midfield, another set of three wickets lost just for 18 runs.
With Sri Lanka 217 for six down after 44 overs, the match entered the crucial phase, the batting Power-play. Lahiru Thirimanne and Thissara Perera, the last acknowledged pair, had batted themselves in and were looking to ruin Zimbabwe's hard work. However Mpofu detached them both in the first over of the Power-play. Perera missing a straight delivery went back to the pavilion while Thirimanne detached to cover-point.
Sri Lankans were all out at 236 in 47.5 overs.
Zimbabwe is on its way to chase the 236 target. With 108 for one after 21 overs, Zimbabwe is likely to make another triumph.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope the underdogs perform superbly once again.
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