Zimbabwe beat Sri Lanka by 8 wickets

An unbeaten 119 from opener Brendan Taylor led Zimbabwe to an eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the last preliminary match of the tri-nation one-day series on Monday.

By (AP)

Published: Mon 7 Jun 2010, 9:59 PM

Last updated: Mon 2 Sep 2024, 3:24 PM

Sri Lanka set Zimbabwe a target of 237 and the host’s batsmen responded with a new sense of self-belief and composure under new coach Alan Butcher, reaching 240-2 in 47.5 overs.

They’d dismissed Sri Lanka for 236, also in 47.5 overs, after the Sri Lankans enjoyed an opening stand of 122.

The teams will meet again in the final on Wednesday, having already eliminated India.

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“In the final I will be happy if we bat first,” Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss said. “If you look at today’s game, we could have made 300 if the middle order had applied itself.”

In-form Taylor faced 136 balls, blasting eight boundaries and a six in an innings full of brilliant strokeplay and timing. It was his second ODI hundred after an unbeaten 118 against Bangladesh last November.

“When he first came here I thought he was a bit overweight,” Butcher said of Taylor. “He had the talent, but his technique was the problem in the past. He has worked hard to correct it, especially when we were in the West Indies. He is now getting his rewards.”

Taylor was the series’ leading runscorer. His man-of-the-match award on Monday was his third of the series.

“I am just trying to keep a clear head,” Taylor said. “It’s nice to spend some time on the crease and get some runs. I didn’t want to put pressure on myself because the bowlers had bowled well. Our seamers made our job easier by keeping the score under 300.”

The Zimbabwean chase suffered an early blow when opener Hamilton Masakadza top-edged a Thushara Mirando delivery on 3 and was caught behind by wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal in the fifth over.

Taylor and Chamu Chibhabha then put on a second-wicket partnership of 134 from 169 deliveries.

Chibhabha, playing for the first time in the series in place of the injured Greg Lamb, played an anchoring role, sitting back and letting Taylor find the gaps. He was dismissed for 58 from 103 balls after being trapped in front by Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan in the 32nd over.

Taylor played on, steering Zimbabwe to a comfortable win as TatendaTaibu, 42 not out, gave him good company.

Earlier, Zimbabwe’s bowlers recovered from an early bashing after half-centuries by openers Dilshan (78) and Upul Tharanga (69) put Sri Lanka in the driving seat.

The two punished the host’s wayward bowling, with seamers Elton Chigumbura and Chibhabha struggling.

The ruthless Dilshan faced 66 balls, cracked nine boundaries and two sixes, while Tharanga’s 69 came off 97 balls in their best opening stand of the series.

The partnership yielded 122 off 123 deliveries from 20.2 overs until Dilshan missed a straight Prosper Utseya delivery to be stumped by wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu.

From there, Zimbabwe managed to staunch the run flow and Sri Lanka’s threat to make close to 300 diminished as offspinners Utseya and Ray Price and legspinner Graeme Cremer kept the batsmen in check with good variation.

Bayliss blamed Sri Lanka for a “lack of application and a poor performance.”

“We let ourselves down because at one point we were 140-1 and we ended up being bowled out for less than 240. We can play better than we did today.”

Tharanga was out in the 36th over when he mis-hit Cremer and Charles Coventry took a diving catch in the deep.

Pace bowler Chris Mpofu bowled admirably at pace at the end to claim 2-32, while Utseya ended with 2-41 off his 10 overs.