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The schedule has been released for the Canada Cup Four Nations Twenty20 competition, and the sides will face off as follows:

10 October 2008         Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe
10 October 2008         Canada v Pakistan
11 October 2008         Canada v Zimbabwe
11 October 2008         Sri Lanka v Pakistan
12 October 2008         Pakistan v Zimbabwe
12 October 2008         Canada v Sri Lanka
13 October 2008         Final

Zimbabwe have been confirmed as taking part in the Canada Cup Four Nations Twenty20 tournament, to be held in Toronto in October, after West Indies pulled out of the contest. Canada, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are the other participants. The tourney will be held at the Maple Leaf ground in Toronto between 10-13 October - no detailed fixture list is available yet, but I'll post it once I have it.
CricInfo - West Indies pull out of Canada quadrangular

The tri-series in Kenya has now been confirmed - there had been some speculation that Ireland would face pressure from the Irish Government over facing Zimbabwe, but Cricket Ireland Chief Executive Warren Deutrom has confirmed that they've cleared the series with the Department of Foreign Affairs, and there are no problems with the series being played on neutral ground.

In seperate news, ZC have also released the itinerary for Sri Lanka's visit to the country in November. The tour will comprise one 4-day match, a 1-day tour match and 5 ODIs - full details on our Fixtures page.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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