Sri Lanka produced a fine display with both bat and ball to win the first One Day International (ODI) Tri Series against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club yesterday.
The Sri Lanka win comes days after they wrapped up a 2-0 Test series win against the Chevrons.
The Asian side bowled the hosts for 154 in just 41.4 overs and they chased the score inside 25 overs to claim a bonus point win.
As with the test matches, Zimbabwe suffered from the fragility of the top order.
After winning the toss and putting Zimbabwe to bat, the Asian side quickly got to business as they reduced the hosts to 15 for 3 inside the first 5overs.
This again meant that Zimbabwe had to dig deeper into the middle and lower order for more runs after the top order was skittled.
Wicketkeeper-batsman, Peter Moor was the best performer for Zimbabwe as his 47 pushed the score to a more respectable one.
Moor’s departure signaled doom for Zimbabwe but it was the inform skipper who pushed the score as his 31 for the eighth wicket partnership with Donald Tiripano,19, pushed the score before they were eventually bungled out for 154.
In reply, the visitors could only lose two wickets as they chased down the score with ease.
After the match, Zimbabwe captain, Graeme Cremer said “in losing the toss, we knew it was going to be a tough task but there were too many soft dismissals .his was not a 150 type of wicket.”
His opposite number, Upul Tharanga paid tribute to his team for a well polished performance.
“Everyone did well, the bowlers stuck to the game plan and they bowled in the right areas. They knew the wicket would do something,” said Tharanga.
The result means Sri Lanka top the three team group with five points while Zimbabwe are on second and West Indies who are yet to play , have zero points.
The next match will be at the same venue as the Caribbean side play the Asian side in what will be a mouth watering encounter.
