Zimpapers Logo

Chevrons

COLOMBO. – An intriguing last day of a thrilling contest between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka ended with the hosts celebrating an historic victory here yesterday but one which, for long, will be tainted by a questionable call by the television umpire.

Sri Lanka chased down a record score to beat Zimbabwe by four wickets on a day when a number of records tumbled. But that merely tells half the story.

As Zimbabwe suffered a painful defeat at the R Premadasa Stadium yesterday, questions were raised about a stumping decision of Sri Lanka’s hero Niroshan Dickwella who was shockingly given as not out by the third umpire and eventually happened to be a huge turning point in the game.

After setting Sri Lanka an imposing target of 388, Zimbabwe had the advantage in the morning when they dismissed overnight batsmen Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis cheaply as Sri Lanka slumped to 203 for five.

With the total on 237, it looked game over for Sri Lanka when wicketkeeper Regis Chakabva stumped Dickwella off the bowling of Sikandar Raza.

Umpire Ian Gould referred the decision to third umpire Chettithody Shamshuddin, who gave the batsman not out despite numerous camera angles showing that the foot was on the line.

Dickwella was 37 at that stage and went onto make a match-winning 81 as Sri Lanka completed the fifth highest successful run chase in the history of Test cricket.

“From what I saw honestly, I didn’t see any doubt why he should be not out but just one of those things – if you have got technology and it clearly shows then,’’ said a distraught Zimbabwe skipper Graeme Cremer.

‘‘It happens to us quite a lot. We feel it’s tough when those things go against you especially when you are trying to win a Test match on a last day.

“We feel disappointed. We have got together and said that we should be proud of the way we pushed Sri Lanka having won the ODI series and pushed them in the Test match as well.

‘‘It is disappointing because the game could have gone either way. It would have been great to win a Test match here but it wasn’t to be. Sri Lanka played well.’’

Despite the defeat, stretching the game to the last session was a huge achievement for Zimbabwe given the fact that this was their first Test match this year and first away game since 2014. “It’s a learning curve for us because we don’t get to play a lot of Test cricket. The way the guys fought was excellent.”

Cremer himself sent down 48 overs in the second innings to finish with a four-wicket haul to complement his first ever five-wicket haul in Tests in the first innings. In all he relied heavily on the four-prong spin attack to bowl Sri Lanka out.

A seamer was introduced into the attack only in the 74th over. Chris Mpofu sent down only six overs while Donald Tiripano wasn’t called up to bowl at all in the second innings. – Sports Reporter/CricBuzz/Cricinfo.