Zimbabwe – 358 and 170 all out in 92 overs (Sean Williams 39, Brendan Taylor 38, Regis Chakabva 26; Suranga Lakmal 4/27, Lahiru Kumara 3/32, Lasith Embuldeniya 2/74)
Sri Lanka – 515-9 declared and 14-0 in 3 overs (Dimuth Karunaratne 10, Oshada Fernando 4)
Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets
Suranga Lakmal was the player of the moment for Sri Lanka with four wickets for only 27 runs as they completed a ten-wicket victory over Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club today.
There were two turning points in today’s play, both in favour of Sri Lanka, when Zimbabwe in truth should have been able to playr through the final day and secure a draw.
The first turning point was Lakmal’s opening spell, when he shattered Zimbabwe’s top order by taking three wickets in as many overs.
There followed, however, a fine partnership between Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams which raised again Zimbabwe’s hopes of saving the match.
After lunch, however, the game turned decisively for the second time in favour of Sri Lanka, as astonishing lapses of judgment by both these batsmen began a steady slide of wickets, and Zimbabwe were unable to hang on for long enough to save the match.
The fifth day began with Zimbabwe at 30 for no wicket, of which Prince Masvaure had 15 and Brian Mudzinganyama 14.
Zimbabwe’s only aim now was to secure a draw, and their first target was the 157 runs they needed to avoid an innings defeat.
It was another warm sunny day as the drought again took its grip on the country, and the pitch was still playing very soundly for batsmen.
In the second over of the morning, however, Masvaure (17) edged a catch to the keeper off the bowling of Lakmal and Zimbabwe were 33 for one wicket.
The next batsman in was Craig Ervine, which gave Zimbabwe in this innings three left-handers at the top of the order.
Mudzinganyama followed in Lakmal’s next over; he struggled against the first two deliveries and was adjudged lbw, offering no stroke, to the third, for 16, making Zimbabwe 36 for two.
Lasith Embuldeniya, the left-arm spinner at the other end, was also causing Ervine some problems, but it was Lakmal who took his third wicket in three overs, as he flicked a catch to short leg to be out for seven; 41 for three.
Taylor and Williams now had to dig in and try to save the side.
While Taylor defended, Williams decided to carry the attack to the opposition, sweeping and reverse-sweeping him fiercely for three fours in four balls.
Taylor, becalmed for a while on one at the other end, also joined in the assault, driving Embuldeniya for two successive fours, the second almost a straight six.
Williams, on the other hand, calmed down a bit and played more quietly, and when the 100 went up on the board in the 36th over, both batsmen were on 30.
There were a couple of frenzied lbw appeals that were rejected, but on the whole the pair batted so well that one wondered why there had been such a collapse early on.
By lunch time they had taken the score to 120 for three, with Taylor on 39 and Williams 38.
Between them they had restored hope for Zimbabwe, but three balls after lunch it plunged again, as Taylor unaccountably pushed a ball from Lakmal straight to silly mid-on, a simple catch and a soft dismissal; 120 for four.
In the next over Williams similarly threw his wicket away when he was most needed, wafting at a ball from Kasun Rajitha outside his off stump and presenting the wicketkeeper with a straightforward catch; 120 for five, and within five minutes hope of a draw had almost evaporated.
Zimbabwe were to pay a heavy price for these remarkable lapses on the part of two very experienced players.
Sikandar Raza and Regis Chakabva are both fighters, but with an unreliable tail it was expecting a lot to hope for them to save Zimbabwe now.
Both fought hard now, and after an hour’s play both had scored 10 runs, the score being 140 for five — but at least they were still there.
They never tried to counter-attack as Taylor and Williams had done before lunch, but simply played each ball on its merits and looked to score off the loose ones.
They took the score to 148 before Raza, coming out of his crease to drive Embuldeniya, was stumped for 17.
Donald Tiripano did not look at all comfortable at first, and there was a loud but unsuccessful lbw appeal against him.
Slowly the batsmen edged towards that magic figure of 157 that would spare them an innings defeat, and went in to tea on 152 for six, Chakabva on 13 and Tiripano two.
About 10 minutes after play restarted Tiripano pulled a ball from Dhananjaya de Silva for four to clear off Zimbabwe’s arrears and avoid the innings defeat.
The next task was for the batsmen to stay in and keep scoring for as long as possible so that Sri Lanka would not have time to chase whatever target Zimbabwe could set them.
The boundary took the score to 159, but without further addition Tiripano was trapped lbw for six by Lahiru Kumara; 159 for seven.
With 25 overs left for play, there was a desperate need for Chakabva to stay in and at least one of the tailenders to hang in there with him.
Kyle Jarvis battled hard for a single off 15 balls before he was beaten by a fast ball from Kumara that sent his off stump flying; 163 for eight.
With only Ainsley Ndlovu and Victor Nyauchi to come, neither likely to last long against bowling of this quality, it seemed that Zimbabwe were doomed to defeat.
It did not take Kumara long to breach Ndlovu’s defences and bowl him out without scoring, and Chakabva was last out, bowled while trying to force a ball from Embuldeniya away to steal a single from the last ball of an over.
Chakabva had fought well for 26, and the total was 170.
Lakmal’s four for 27 off 20 overs was a superb piece of bowling, while Kumara also bowled well to take three for 32, with Embuldeniya taking two wickets, but the batsmen played him well this innings and hit him for 74 runs.
Sri Lanka needed 14 to win and with 13 overs in hand this was no problem for them.
Dimuth Karunaratne and Oshada Fernando scored 10 and four not out respectively, and had no trouble in scoring the runs in three overs.
The second Test match starts at the same venue next Monday, 27 January.
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