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Jeffrey Vandersay

SRI LANKA overcame an early wobble to cruise to a six-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in the final of the cricket tri-series at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday. The visitors went to lunch on 44 for three, having faced seven overs after Brian Vitori made the visitors pay for their hasty approach to a small target, picking up all three wickets. Upul Tharanga (57 not out) and Kusal Mendis (57) consolidated after the break to ease the nerves.

Earlier, Sri Lankan bowlers Jeffrey Vandersay and Asela Gunaratne claimed three wickets apiece as Zimbabwe were bowled out inside 37 overs.

“Definitely, to get to a final is always nice, but a bit disappointing today. We didn’t think our day would end like this. It was a bit difficult to bat this morning and we lost quite a few wickets together. We’ve been watching him (Brian Vitori) in the nets. He just came in and got wickets upfront. For sure, we have got together in short space of time. The team spirit is up. The guys are hungry to perform and hungry to succeed and we can’t ask for anything more form them,” said Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer after the match.

There are two ways of looking at Zimbabwe’s slump to 160 all out after opting to bat on a decent Bulawayo track in the tri-series final.

One is that they had to contend with a good all-round bowling effort from Sri Lanka and an unhelpful rain interruption early on. Another is that they let themselves down once again with a series of soft dismissals and dubious decisions. It might sound harsh, but the latter analysis is probably the more apt.

The dubious decision-making began before the game started, with the home side dropping their regular openers, Chamu Chibhabha and Brian Chari, which forced Peter Moor and Hamilton Masakadza to fill the opening slots.

Moor, in particular, looked uncomfortable with the promotion, and it was not long before he scooped an innocuous straight delivery from Suranga Lakmal to gift an easy catch to midwicket. Masakadza followed him back soon thereafter when he was trapped in front by a Nuwan Kulasekara in-dipper. When rain interrupted play, Zimbabwe were 20 for 2 in 5.1 overs.

But their real troubles began almost an hour after the resumption. A promising third-wicket partnership of 53 between Musakanda and Craig Ervine ended when Ervine closed his bat face early to give the simplest of return catches to legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay. Debutant Tarisai Musakanda was busy and energetic for his 36 off 37, but he perished to the same bowler, reaching for a ball that was leaving him to nick to first slip. Then Sikandar Raza missed an attempted sweep by a big margin and Zimbabwe were 89 for 5.

They were not yet done shooting themselves in the foot. Malcolm Waller and Sean Williams both threw away decent starts with ugly, cross-batted slogs that went high in the air. The tail did not offer much resistance and Zimbabwe were bowled out in 36.3 overs on a pitch that had not offered anything out of the ordinary to the bowlers.

That said, Sri Lanka turned out a professional performance with the ball and in the field.

Kulasekara and Lakmal bowled with discipline with the new ball to tie down the batsmen from the outset. Vandersay, brought in to replace Nuwan Pradeep, then extracted decent turn and exposed the home team’s weakness against spin. Along with left-arm spinner Sachith Pathirana, he pegged Zimbabwe back in the middle overs.

The spinners took 5 for 76 in 17 overs between them, helped by a screamer of a catch by Kusal Mendis at short cover to get rid of Graeme Cremer. Sri Lanka had started as favourites due to their superior firepower, but it was their clarity of approach and better execution of basics that left them primed for a win. — Cricinfo.