Sri Lanka ‘A’ won the third ODI in Harare yesterday, although their winning margin was the smallest of the series, at 31 runs. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, with openers Mahela Udawatta and Dilruwan Perera making hay from Gary Brent’s early bowling (19 conceded from his first two overs) - although Brent was later to redeem himself by taking 4/43 from his 10 overs, including both openers in his haul. With most of Zim’s bowlers going for over 5/over, though, Sri Lanka were piling on the runs, until a late-innings collapse (4 wickets in the space of 15 runs) saw them bowled out for 264 in the final over.
Zimbabwe Select took the cautious approach at the beginning of their innings, with Vusi Sibanda and Brendan Taylor putting on 61 runs in just over 11 overs before Taylor finally fell, caught at gully for 13 while trying to up his own pace. Chamu Chibhabha then consolidated with Sibanda, taking Zim to 148 before Sibanda got carried away and was removed for 85 - Zim’s best score of the innings. At that point, things looked quite promising, but from there a steady procession of wickets and the usual poor batting saw Zimbabwe bowled out for 233 after 48 overs. Sri Lanka had their series whitewash, and after showing some promise in the first 4-dayer Zimbabwe were left with a series they’d probably rather forget.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ 264 (49.4 overs; Kandamby 62, Brent 4/43), Zimbabwe Select 233 (48 overs; Sibanda 85, Herath 3/24). Sri Lanka ‘A’ win by 31 runs, win series 3-0. Full scorecard below the cut.
Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka ‘A’ Secure Clean Sweep of ODI Series’
Batting first, Zimbabwe went all to pieces against Sri Lanka ‘A’, collapsing to 146 all out with only 3 batsmen (Taylor, Taibu and Dabengwa) making double-figures. Rangana Herath did most of the damage, with an impressive haul of 4/19, and Sri Lanka were left with simple target to chase.
They didn’t get off to the best of starts, though, with Udawatte falling before a run had been scored and Perera departing with the score on 2/26 - both removed by Gary Brent, who was the best of the Zimbabweans on the day with 2/24 - but that was the end of the wicket-taking. From there, Dilshan (78*) and Warnapura (56*) again dominated the match and took Sri Lanka past the winning line with 20 overs to spare.
Very, very disappointing that Zimbabwe still haven’t sorted out their batting frailities - sometimes they fire and do a good job, but far too often they just capitulate almost en masse, as happened here. If Zim are to have any hope of competing at Test level, that’s going to have to be sorted soon.
Zimbabwe Select 146 (48.3 overs; Dabengwa 45, Herath 4/19), Sri Lanka ‘A’ 150/5 (29.2 overs; Dilshan 78*, Brent 2/24). Sri Lanka ‘A’ win by 8 wickets, win series 2-0 with 1 to play.
Next matches: 3rd ‘A’ ODI in Harare, and Zimbabwe Provinces against Easterns in Bulawayo. Both matches begin on Thursday (1st November). Full scorecard for this match below the cut.
Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka ‘A’ Seal Series Win’
Sri Lanka ‘A’ claimed a 52-run win in the first ‘A’ ODI in Bulawayo on Sunday, thanks largely to centuries by Malinda Warnapura (100) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (111) that helped Sri Lanka to a difficult total of 319/5 from their 50 overs. Zimbabwe’s bowling wasn’t the best, with even the usually-economic Prosper Utseya going for 6/over, but to their credit Zimbabwe didn’t roll over and made an effort to chase the total down.
The loss of Vusi Sibanda for 12 in the 5th over (1/19) didn’t indicate the best of starts, perhaps, but Brendan Taylor (50) and Chamu Chibhabha (44) then put on 91 for the second wicket, and the chase was on, with Tatenda Taibu and Stuart Matiskenyeri also contributing useful knocks. After Taibu’s dismissal in the 31st over, though, Sri Lanka began taking regular wickets, as the lower order did their best (with only Timycen Maruma failing to reach double figures) but were collectively unable to deal with the combined efforts of Dammika Prasad (2/63 & a catch to remove Utseya) and Sujeewa de Silva (3/36). Zim finished their innings on 267/9, which to be fair is one of their better recent batting performances. In the end, though, the head-start provided to the Sri Lankans by Dilshan and Warnapura was just too much for the home side to deal with.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ 319/5 (50 overs; Dilshan 111, Chibhabh 2/58), Zimbabwe Select 267/9 (50 overs; Taylor 50, de Silva 3/36). Sri Lanka ‘A’ win by 52 runs, lead series 1-0 with 2 to play.
Next match: 2nd ‘A’ ODI in Harare. The full scorecard for this match is below the cut.
Continue reading ‘Warnapura and Dilshan Lead Sri Lanka ‘A’ to Victory’
A woeful first-innings performance with the bat saw Zimbabwe Select slip to a 224-run loss against Sri Lanka ‘A’, handing the visitors a 1-0 series win. Zimbabwe did well with the ball throughout the match, restricting Sri Lanka to 256 & 268, but after having been skittled out for 96 in their first innings (Stuart Matsikenyeri’s 20 being the top score of the innings), they needed a miracle to save the match, and that unfortunately didn’t happen. Herath was the Zimbabwean’s biggest problem, taking 7 wickets in the match; for Zimbabwe, Utseya took 6 (again showing that he seems to have discovered a more attacking style) while Timycen Maruma took 5. Half-centuries from Chamu Chibhabha (60) and Keith Dabengwa (73) gave Zim’s second innings a level of respectability, but faced with a target to win of 429, they capitulated for 204, handing Sri Lanka the win inside 3 days.
Overall, good with the ball, poor with the bat - the general pattern of Zimbabwe’s play in recent years, and an area that coach Robin Brown is really going to have to work on. Next up: the 1st ‘A’ ODI, in Bulawayo on October 28th (Sunday).
Full scorecard below the cut.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ 256 (Udawatte 92, Maruma 3/48) & 268 (Dilshan 85, Utseya 4/59), Zimbabwe Select 96 (Matsikenyeri 20, Herath 4/25) & 204 (Dabengwa 73, Kulasekara 3/38). Sri Lanka ‘A’ win by 224 runs, win series 1-0.
Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka ‘A’ Hand Zim Select a Drubbing’
Worth pointing out that Zimbabwe’s SuperSport Series match against Lions (28-31 October in Bulawayo) clashes with the 1st and 2nd ‘A’ ODIs against Sri Lanka ‘A’ (28 October in Bulawayo, and 29 October in Harare). Two likely outcomes of that: the 28 October match against Sri Lanka ‘A’ will need to be postponed, cancelled or played elsewhere (Bulawayo Athletic Club, maybe?), while with ZC having undertaken to play their strongest possible side in the SuperSport Series, if the matches go ahead they’ll have to play a weaker side (Zimbabwe ‘A’?) against Sri Lanka ‘A’. No news on what ZC will do - I’m just speculating, after looking at the fixture lists - but they’ll have to make a decision soon…
Result: Sri Lanka A 426 (Perera 75, Warnapura 71, Utseya 4/100, Mpofu 3/87) & 203/5 decl (Kapugedara 58*, Utseya 2/37), Zimbabwe Select 313 (Dabengwa 62*, Sibanda 55) & 221/3 (Chibhabha 103, Sibanda 47, Prasad 1/27, Kulasekara 1/34). Match Drawn.
Day 5 match report from zimcricket.org
As expected, match drawn, but Zimbabwe did make a good show of it, led by Chamu Chibhabha who picked up his maiden first-class century. Losing only three wickets in their second innings, Zimbabwe’s batsmen were much improved and can take some positives from this game, which at one point looked safely in Sri Lanka’s hands. Perhaps, with that momentum taken into the second match (starting Monday), there’s a chance for Zim to pick up a win.
Full scorecard below the cut.
Continue reading ‘Zimbabwe Select Earn Draw in 1st Four-Day Match’
Another update to the fixture list, courtesy of CricInfo - all games bumped back two days, to the first 4-day game now begins on Tuesday. Hopefully this will be the last change…
1st Four-Day Match 16-19 October Harare Sports Club
2nd Four-Day Match 22-25 October Queen's Sports Club, Bulawayo
1st 'A' ODI 28 October Queen's Sports Club, Bulawayo
2nd 'A' ODI 29 October Harare Sports Club
3rd 'A' ODI 1 November Harare Sports Club
The two-day warm-up match between Zimbabwe Provinces and Sri Lanka ‘A’ ended in a predictable draw - 2 days isn’t nearly enough to ensure a result - but there were some promising performances from some of the Zimbabwean unknowns selected for the match, even though more recognisable names failed to fire on the day.
Batting first, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 377, with Kaushal Silva’s 122 forming the backbone of the innings. Patiant Charumbira took a respectable 4/84, with Taurai Muzarabani and Michael Chinouya contributing two a piece, although the Sri Lankan total will have been higher than Zim would have liked. In reply, Zimbabwe put on 247/7 on the second day - Stuart Matsikenyeri top-scored with 45 while Sean Williams marked his return from injury with a disappointing duck. While none of the new boys settled enough to build large scores, a number of them did manage to at least get started - something the boys down in Bulawayo could maybe learn from. Cephas Zhuwawo’s 44 not-out and Forster Mutizwa’s 42 not-out were the pick of the bunch.
Full scorecard below the cut.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ 377, Zimbabwe Provinces 247/7. Match Drawn.
Continue reading ‘Zimbabwe Provinces Draw with Sri Lanka ‘A’’
Sri Lanka have confirmed their squad for the upcoming visit to Zimbabwe:
TM Dilshan (captain), Chamara Kapugedera (vice captain), Mahela Udawatte, Malinda Warnapura, Dilruwan Perera, Thilina Kandamby, Kaushal Silva, Tharanga Paranawithana, Nuwan Kulasekera, Dhammika Prasad, Ishara Amarasinghe, Akalanka Ganegama, Sujeewa Silva, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Rangana Herath (Reserves: Kanchana Gunawardena, Tharaka Lakshitha, Ranga Dias)
Thanks to brmtaylor.com for the heads-up.
Sri Lankan Cricket have confirmed they will send a “strong” ‘A’ side to Zimbabwe between October 10 & 31, to play a series of matches that will include at least 3 four-day games. The full itinerary has yet to be released - more details when I get them.