Liyanage, Theekshana, tailenders give Sri Lanka thrilling win
Sri Lanka 211 for 8 (Liyanage 95, Ngrava 5-32) beat Zimbabwe 208 (Ervine 82, Theekshana 4-31) by two wickets by way of DLS technique
Sri Lanka’s ninth-wicket partnership snuck their workforce dwelling within the Colombo rain, battling off a spirited Zimbabwe bowling and fielding efficiency led by Richard Ngarava. Defending solely 209, Ngarava took early wickets, and completed with 5 for 32 from his 10 overs, because the likes of Sikandar Raza and Blessing Muzarabani produced menacing spells of their very own.
And collectively they’d repeatedly had Sri Lanka on the ropes of their chase, notably when No. 9 Dushmantha Chameera and No. 10 Jeffrey Vandersay got here along with Sri Lanka needing 37 to win off 45 balls. But the pair batted sensibly. Ngarava had already been bowled out at this stage, and Muzarabani was the final remaining menace – Craig Ervine having used his most-threatening bowlers up early in his quest for wickets.
Together Chameera and Vandersay whittled down the requirement, earlier than within the penultimate over, Vandersay scooped Faraz Akram over his shoulder, after which drove him via the covers for 4 subsequent ball, in what have been the ultimate dramatic moments in a match that had swung in both course repeatedly.
That these final blows got here within the rain, which had earlier prompted a major delay, solely added to the theatre. That this partnership had been cast after the departure of Janith Liyanage, who hit 95 off 127 balls, thus offering probably the most substance to this innings, made the end much more riveting.
Of all of the regrets Zimbabwe could have from this match, nonetheless, none can be larger than their collapse from the thirty seventh over onwards. Having been 182 for 4, and headed in direction of a rating of round 250, they misplaced their final six wickets for 26 runs. Captain Ervine, who had made 82 off 102, was the primary to depart in that sequence, having been caught athletically by Sadeera Samarawickrama at backward level.
It was Liyanage’s innings that ended up defining the match nonetheless, and he who was most liable for pushing the sport deep as the opposite batters fell round him. (The next-highest rating on the Sri Lankan card was 21.) Although he too struggled in opposition to Ngarava’s new-ball bowling, he was affected person till the hittable balls got here, crashing Ngarava to the duvet boundary to begin the seventh over, earlier than pulling him neatly behind sq. a number of balls later, when Ngarava bowled quick.
With the floor considerably cheesy, his innings was principally a gradual grind. He’d hit solely three boundaries after 82 balls, though he was compelled to enter a extra aggressive mode when the tail got here in. He hit two sixes, each off spin and each on the legside, and cast an vital 46-run seventh-wicket stand with Maheesh Theekshana, who contributed 18.
Having earlier accomplished his half-century off the eighty fifth ball he confronted, Liyanage appeared headed for a maiden ODI ton in solely his second sport. But with rain coming down within the forty third over, and Sri Lanka behind the DLS charge, Liyanage tried to thump Muzarabani over lengthy off for 4, and wound up solely miscuing it to the fielder. Zimbabwe smelled victory and employed attacking fields with each Vandersay and Chameera but to get off the mark. But these two tailenders’ cool heads would defy Zimbabwe.
But it had been Ngarava’s tenacity in his first spell that set the tone for what turned an intense defence of their modest whole. He claimed Avishka Fernando’s wicket fifth ball with a back-of-a-length supply simply exterior off stump, which Fernando inside-edged via to the keeper.
In Ngarava’s subsequent over – one other edge. Sadeera Samarawickrama flashed at a fullish broad ball, and despatched it to Ervine at second slip. Zimbabwe would get solely these two wickets within the first powerplay, however having been 16 for two, Sri Lanka have been compelled to bat with extra warning. In his subsequent spell, he additionally dismissed Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka, having constructed additional strain with extra back-of-a-length bowling.
And although there have been errors within the area, and with the ball (Muzarabani bowled Kusal Mendis off a no-ball, for instance), it was their nosedive with the bat that prevented Zimbabwe from posting a aggressive rating. Ervine had pushed superbly via the course of his innings, and had struck up half-century partnerships with Joylord Gumbie, and Ryan Burl.
But when he minimize a Chameera ball too near Samarawickrama, who flung himself explosively on the ball to intercept it, Ervine left the decrease middle-order uncovered, and so they succumbed quickly to the spin of Theekshana and Vandersay. Theekshana picked up 4 for 31 within the innings. Vandersay and Chameera took two wickets apiece.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a author at ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf