The first Test between hosts Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka at the Harare Sports Club ground will go the full length with two possible results on the final day. Sri Lanka may fancy their chances for a win by an innings with the lead they possess at the end of day 4 while Zimbabwe will most probably push for a draw.
Most of the day was just about Angelo Mathews and his memorable innings. Starting off the day by reaching his 10th Test ton, Mathews went on to become Sri Lanka’s 10th Test double centurion later on in the day.
Mendis-Mathews combo put Sri Lanka on top
Sri Lanka’s other overnight batsman Dhananjaya De Silva couldn’t add much to his account as his brief stay ended soon after he reached his 6th Test fifty on day 4. He fell to Zimbabwe’s most impressive bowler of the match, debutant pacer Victor Nyauchi, trying to up the scoring rate and ending up giving a catch mid-on.
One of Sri Lanka’s busiest batsmen, Niroshan Dickwella then joined Mathews following the Mathews-De Silva 98-run stand and added 136 runs for the 6th wicket, taking almost 45 overs. The slow scoring was a feature in the entire Lankan innings. Even with Zimbabwe having batted for more than 5 sessions, favorites to win the game, Sri Lanka showed zero urgency in scoring and pushing for a win. The wicket too didn’t show any major signs of becoming difficult for batting despite early predictions of breaking up to assist the spinners.
However, Zimbabwean part-time spinner Sikandar Raza then came into the act claiming 3 wickets. After trapping Dickwella in front of the stumps for 63 he dismissed Suranga Lakmal and Lasith Embuldeniya with consecutive deliveries. Lakmal was trying to add some impetus to the innings with an energetic knock of 27 which included 2 sixes while Embuldeniya played the wrong line in his very first delivery.
Zimbabwe’s new opening pair of Prince Masvaure and Kevin Kasuza’s concussion substitute (Kasuza was ruled out of the Test due to concussion), debutant Brian Mudzinganyama looked very cautious as they came out to bat in the last hour after Sri Lanka’s declaration following Mathews’ 200.
The Lankan bowlers will have to try extremely hard if they are to take 10 wickets tomorrow. However, irrespective of the result, this game will be remembered in Sri Lanka cricket’s folklore for a landmark knock by one of Sri Lanka’s greatest Test batsmen, Angelo Mathews.
Result
Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Prince Masvaure | c Dimuth Karunaratne b Lasith Embuldeniya | 55 | 149 | 7 | 0 | 36.91 |
Kevin Kasuza | lbw b Lahiru Kumara | 63 | 214 | 5 | 1 | 29.44 |
Craig Ervine | b Suranga Lakmal | 85 | 187 | 5 | 3 | 45.45 |
Brendan Taylor | lbw b Suranga Lakmal | 21 | 47 | 1 | 1 | 44.68 |
Sean Williams | c Niroshan Dickwella b Lasith Embuldeniya | 18 | 46 | 1 | 1 | 39.13 |
Sikandar Raza | st Niroshan Dickwella b Lasith Embuldeniya | 41 | 65 | 6 | 0 | 63.08 |
Regis Chakabva | c Angelo Mathews b Lasith Embuldeniya | 8 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 40.00 |
Donald Tiripano | not out | 44 | 103 | 3 | 0 | 42.72 |
Kyle Jarvis | b Lasith Embuldeniya | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
Ainsley Ndlovu | c Kusal Mendis b Lahiru Kumara | 5 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 20.00 |
Victor Nyauchi | c Lakshan Sandakan b Suranga Lakmal | 11 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 37.93 |
Extras | 6 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 2, w 0, pen 0) |
Total | 358/10 (148 Overs, RR: 2.42) |
Fall of Wickets | 1-96 (50.1) Prince Masvaure, 2-164 (75.3) Kevin Kasuza, 3-208 (91.5) Brendan Taylor, 4-247 (106.3) Sean Williams, 5-247 (107.2) Craig Ervine, 6-266 (114.2) Regis Chakabva, 7-307 (128.4) Sikandar Raza, 8-309 (130.1) Kyle Jarvis, 9-328 (139.1) Ainsley Ndlovu, 10-358 (147.6) Victor Nyauchi, |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Suranga Lakmal | 27 | 10 | 53 | 3 | 1.96 | |
Kasun Rajitha | 29 | 9 | 55 | 0 | 1.90 | |
Lasith Embuldeniya | 42 | 12 | 114 | 5 | 2.71 | |
Lahiru Kumara | 29 | 8 | 82 | 2 | 2.83 | |
Dhananjaya de Silva | 21 | 8 | 50 | 0 | 2.38 |
Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dimuth Karunaratne | c Ainsley Ndlovu b Victor Nyauchi | 37 | 78 | 4 | 0 | 47.44 |
Oshada Fernando | b Donald Tiripano | 21 | 41 | 2 | 0 | 51.22 |
Kusal Mendis | c Brendan Taylor b Victor Nyauchi | 80 | 163 | 8 | 0 | 49.08 |
Angelo Mathews | not out | 200 | 468 | 16 | 3 | 42.74 |
Dinesh Chandimal | c & b Sean Williams | 12 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 37.50 |
Dhananjaya de Silva | c Prince Masvaure b Victor Nyauchi | 63 | 112 | 7 | 0 | 56.25 |
Niroshan Dickwella | lbw b Sikandar Raza | 63 | 120 | 3 | 0 | 52.50 |
Suranga Lakmal | st Regis Chakabva b Sikandar Raza | 27 | 41 | 0 | 2 | 65.85 |
Lasith Embuldeniya | b Sikandar Raza | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
Kasun Rajitha | lbw b Sean Williams | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
Extras | 11 (b 2 , lb 5 , nb 4, w 0, pen 0) |
Total | 515/9 (176.2 Overs, RR: 2.92) |
Fall of Wickets | 1-32 (11.1) Oshada Fernando, 2-92 (28.6) Dimuth Karunaratne, 3-184 (66.2) Kusal Mendis, 4-227 (81.4) Dinesh Chandimal, 5-325 (116.2) Dhananjaya de Silva, 6-461 (160.3) Niroshan Dickwella, 7-510 (173.4) Suranga Lakmal, 8-510 (173.5) Lasith Embuldeniya, 9-515 (176.2) Kasun Rajitha, |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kyle Jarvis | 37 | 12 | 84 | 0 | 2.27 | |
Victor Nyauchi | 32 | 7 | 69 | 3 | 2.16 | |
Donald Tiripano | 31 | 3 | 82 | 1 | 2.65 | |
Ainsley Ndlovu | 28 | 3 | 107 | 0 | 3.82 | |
Sean Williams | 32.2 | 3 | 104 | 2 | 3.23 | |
Sikandar Raza | 16 | 0 | 62 | 3 | 3.88 |
Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Prince Masvaure | c Niroshan Dickwella b Suranga Lakmal | 17 | 58 | 2 | 0 | 29.31 |
Brian Mudzinganyama | lbw b Suranga Lakmal | 16 | 62 | 2 | 0 | 25.81 |
Craig Ervine | c Dimuth Karunaratne b Suranga Lakmal | 7 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 53.85 |
Brendan Taylor | c Kusal Mendis b Suranga Lakmal | 38 | 58 | 5 | 1 | 65.52 |
Sean Williams | c Niroshan Dickwella b Kasun Rajitha | 39 | 79 | 5 | 0 | 49.37 |
Sikandar Raza | st Niroshan Dickwella b Lasith Embuldeniya | 17 | 55 | 1 | 0 | 30.91 |
Regis Chakabva | b Lasith Embuldeniya | 26 | 142 | 1 | 0 | 18.31 |
Donald Tiripano | lbw b Lahiru Kumara | 6 | 61 | 1 | 0 | 9.84 |
Kyle Jarvis | b Lahiru Kumara | 1 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 6.67 |
Ainsley Ndlovu | b Lahiru Kumara | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
Victor Nyauchi | not out | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
Extras | 3 (b 2 , lb 0 , nb 1, w 0, pen 0) |
Total | 170/10 (92 Overs, RR: 1.85) |
Fall of Wickets | 1-33 (18.2) Prince Masvaure, 2-36 (20.3) Brian Mudzinganyama, 3-41 (22.3) Craig Ervine, 4-120 (44.3) Brendan Taylor, 5-120 (45.2) Sean Williams, 6-148 (62.1) Sikandar Raza, 7-159 (81.6) Donald Tiripano, 8-163 (85.6) Kyle Jarvis, 9-165 (89.4) Ainsley Ndlovu, 10-170 (91.6) Regis Chakabva, |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Suranga Lakmal | 20 | 8 | 27 | 4 | 1.35 | |
Kasun Rajitha | 14 | 6 | 23 | 1 | 1.64 | |
Dhananjaya de Silva | 11 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 1.09 | |
Lahiru Kumara | 21 | 8 | 32 | 3 | 1.52 | |
Lasith Embuldeniya | 26 | 8 | 74 | 2 | 2.85 |
Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oshada Fernando | not out | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 80.00 |
Dimuth Karunaratne | not out | 10 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 76.92 |
Extras | 0 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 0, w 0, pen 0) |
Total | 14/0 (3 Overs, RR: 4.67) |
Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Donald Tiripano | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 4.00 | |
Victor Nyauchi | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6.00 |