The Zimbabwe Development
side made their Sri Lankan counterparts fight hard most of the way to
victory, with Carl Mumba again turning in a sterling bowling
performance, but in the end the Sri Lankans proved the better team in
this match with a five-wicket victory shortly after lunch on the final
day at Harare Sports Club.
The position at the start of play was that the Sri Lankans had 38 runs on the board with one wicket down, needing 181 to win. The
opening batsman Pabasara Waduge, on 22, and the night-watchman Anuk
Fernando, yet to score, opened the batting to the pace bowling of Victor
Nyauchi and Mumba.
Fernando was the more aggressive of the two, especially against Nyauchi, who was not up to the same high standard he showed at the start of their first innings. Mumba took the first wicket of the day when he trapped Waduge lbw for 30 with a fine full-length delivery; 69 for two.
Luke Jongwe replaced Nyauchi, and again struck almost immediately, as Lahiru Milantha (6) drove a low catch into the covers, to make the score 84 for three.
Fernando escaped a low chance in the slips off Mumba when he had three, while Charith Asalanka showed more aggression than in his monumental first innings when he hit two early boundaries off Mumba.
Mumba got his man, however, as he burst through Asalanka’s defence and bowled him comprehensively for nine, making the score 97 for four. Zimbabwe were in now with more of a hope of victory, with Mumba the potential match-winner, but he had already bowled for more than an hour without a break.
The Sri Lanka hundred came up in the 25th over.
Sandun Weerakkody was in fine form, as in the first innings, and the Zimbabweans urgently needed to remove him quickly, but Mumba had to be rested and Nyauchi came back to take his place.
Weerakkody laid into the left-arm spin of Wellington Masakadza, hitting him for 18 runs in two overs, and the Sri Lankans were now closing in on victory.
However, on 35 off 39 balls, he went for a big leg-side swish off Nyauchi and was caught at the wicket; 141 for five. The score at lunch was 145 for five, with Fernando on 38 and Rumesh Buddika two. Fernando pulled the first ball after lunch, from Nyauchi, for four as the Sri Lankans set their sights on victory.
Fernando is clearly better than the average night-watchman – he reached his fifty off 64 balls, but immediately after that, with the total at 165, he was dropped by the wicketkeeper Nyasha Mayavo off Nyauchi.
This was the Zimbabweans’ last sniff of snatching victory from this match. The batsmen now proceeded to victory with no further problems, and victory was sealed when Fernando swung a ball from Dylan Hondo over the leg-side boundary for six.
The final total was 185 for five, Fernando finishing on 61 and Buddika 15. Their unbroken stand put on 44, and if the Zimbabweans had been able to dismiss either early, the result might have been different.
Mumba, who bowled superbly throughout the match to take eight wickets altogether, finished with two for 54 in this innings, and Jongwe two for 25.
The vital factor in this match was the failure of most of the Zimbabwean batsmen in their second innings, which enabled the tourists to record their victory.
The position at the start of play was that the Sri Lankans had 38 runs on the board with one wicket down, needing 181 to win. The
opening batsman Pabasara Waduge, on 22, and the night-watchman Anuk
Fernando, yet to score, opened the batting to the pace bowling of Victor
Nyauchi and Mumba.Fernando was the more aggressive of the two, especially against Nyauchi, who was not up to the same high standard he showed at the start of their first innings. Mumba took the first wicket of the day when he trapped Waduge lbw for 30 with a fine full-length delivery; 69 for two.
Luke Jongwe replaced Nyauchi, and again struck almost immediately, as Lahiru Milantha (6) drove a low catch into the covers, to make the score 84 for three.
Fernando escaped a low chance in the slips off Mumba when he had three, while Charith Asalanka showed more aggression than in his monumental first innings when he hit two early boundaries off Mumba.
Mumba got his man, however, as he burst through Asalanka’s defence and bowled him comprehensively for nine, making the score 97 for four. Zimbabwe were in now with more of a hope of victory, with Mumba the potential match-winner, but he had already bowled for more than an hour without a break.
The Sri Lanka hundred came up in the 25th over.
Sandun Weerakkody was in fine form, as in the first innings, and the Zimbabweans urgently needed to remove him quickly, but Mumba had to be rested and Nyauchi came back to take his place.
Weerakkody laid into the left-arm spin of Wellington Masakadza, hitting him for 18 runs in two overs, and the Sri Lankans were now closing in on victory.
However, on 35 off 39 balls, he went for a big leg-side swish off Nyauchi and was caught at the wicket; 141 for five. The score at lunch was 145 for five, with Fernando on 38 and Rumesh Buddika two. Fernando pulled the first ball after lunch, from Nyauchi, for four as the Sri Lankans set their sights on victory.
Fernando is clearly better than the average night-watchman – he reached his fifty off 64 balls, but immediately after that, with the total at 165, he was dropped by the wicketkeeper Nyasha Mayavo off Nyauchi.
This was the Zimbabweans’ last sniff of snatching victory from this match. The batsmen now proceeded to victory with no further problems, and victory was sealed when Fernando swung a ball from Dylan Hondo over the leg-side boundary for six.
The final total was 185 for five, Fernando finishing on 61 and Buddika 15. Their unbroken stand put on 44, and if the Zimbabweans had been able to dismiss either early, the result might have been different.
Mumba, who bowled superbly throughout the match to take eight wickets altogether, finished with two for 54 in this innings, and Jongwe two for 25.
The vital factor in this match was the failure of most of the Zimbabwean batsmen in their second innings, which enabled the tourists to record their victory.
