Review: Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe, 3rd ODI : Lions humble the visitors

After the end of two matches of the ongoing Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe series at island nation, both sides notched up a win as the series was brilliantly poised at 1-all. Zimbabwe surprised one and all with their performance in the first match of the series. The Sri Lankans, under pressure in the second ODI, went on to win the match comfortably to level the series, thereby, silencing their critics.

The third match threatened to go in favour of Zimbabwe yet again but the home side ensured that their batting performance did not let the game drift away from them. After winning the toss, Angelo Matthews elected to field first, backing his team’s ability to chase down the total set by the visitors. The danger man for Zimbabwe as far as the Lankans were concerned, Solomon Mire, could not replicate his heroics in the First ODI and departed soon after putting up just 13 runs on the board.

With the score at 39-1, Tarasai Musakanda joined Hamilton Masakadza and drew first blood against the Lankans as their partnership ensured that there were no further hiccups in the innings and laid a solid platform for the middle order to post a daunting total in front of the Lankans. One of the seasoned campaigners for the men in red, Masakadza brought up his fifth hundred in ODIs as he scored a rapid knock of 111 in just 98 balls at a strike rate of 113, smashing a whopping 15 crisp boundaries in his innings along with a maximum.

The Masakadza show

Musakanda missed out on his half-century as he compiled a well made 48 off 57 balls, providing able support to Masakadza at the other end. At one point of time, Zim was cruising at 166-1 by the end of the 27th over as they were looking at a score of over 350, with the kind of arsenal they have lower down the order. However, wickets at regular intervals changed the course of the innings as the visitors could only manage a total of 310 by the end of their quota of 50 overs.

The total was only possible thanks to important innings from Sean Williams (43 of 47), Sikander Raza (remained unbeaten for his quick fire 25 in just 17 balls) and Peter Moor (24 of 11). The fragile looking Sri Lanka lineup had their task cut out to chase down the total set up by the Zimbabweans. Not only did they want to take an advantage in the series, they also desired to make a statement against the visitors.

Sri Lankan reply

Zimbabwe had no answer to the opening partnership of Sri Lanka who took the game away from the hapless bowlers of the opposition. Niroshan Dickwella abided by his reputation of being an explosive opener and also got to his maiden century in One-Day Internationals along with Danushka Gunathilaka. The centuries from the two youngsters ensured that the Sri Lankan opening is in safe hands and also put an end to their batting woes at the top of the order.

Gunathilaka scored a brisk 111-ball 116 while Dickwella scored a crucial 102 off 116 balls. Kusal Mendis and Upul Tharanga completed the formalities with their respective innings of 28 and 44 respectively. Gunathalika was awarded as the man of the match and Sri Lanka took a lead of 2-1 in the five-match ODI series.

Brief Scores: 

Zimbabwe 310/8 (50.0 overs), Mazakadza 111(98), Tarisai Musakanda 48(57), De Silva 2/44

Sri Lanka 312/2 (47.2 overs), Gunathilaka 116(111), Dickwella 102(116), Waller 1/32