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| Wednesday, 21 April 2004 |
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Sangakkara, Dilshan steer Lanka to nervous win Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Zimbabwe BULAWAYO, Tuesday - Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan calmed some frayed nerves as they guided Sri Lanka to a six wickets win over an understrength Zimbabwe in the first one-day international played at the Queens Sports Club here today. Sangakkara hit an undefeated 73 off 72 balls with six fours and Dilshan an unbeaten 35 off 41 balls (2 fours) to take Sri Lanka to 144 for four wickets off 27 overs, a total which more than enough to give them victory under the Duckworth and Lewis method. Bad light ended play but by that time Sri Lanka needing to score 173 off 33 overs were ahead on the D/L method and were declared winners. It was not a victory that Sri Lanka can crow much about after they had allowed Zimbabwe recover from 78 for five to a respectable 211-6 off 50 overs and then lost openers Sanath Jayasuriya (9) and skipper Marvan Atapattu (0) to be nine for 2 in the third over. Rain for over two hours lopped 17 overs off, reducing Sri Lanka's target to 173 off 33 overs. But on resumption they lost Mahela Jayawardene for five and Nuwan Zoysa promoted in the batting for 14 to be 77-4 in the 15th over. However Sangakkara dropped three times made full use of the lapses to steer Sri Lanka home to a nervous win. The inexperienced Zimbabweans gave a good account of themselves on the field to put Sri Lanka under pressure. However their overenthusiasm was not matched by their catching and fielding. Sangakkara was first missed at 24 by Sibanda at backward point and then at 67 by stand-in wicket-keeper Alester Maregwede. Douglas Hondo being the unlucky bowler on both occasions. Taibu, the main wicket-keeper in the side and captaining his country for the first time gave up his gloves to turn his arm over for a few overs and it was during that time that Maregwede missed Sangakkara. Taibu then had the misfortune to drop a return catch offered by Sangakkara shortly before the umpires offered the light to the batsmen. At that time Sri Lanka were well ahead of the required total. Taibu, the youngest player to captain his country at 20 years distinguished himself on his maiden appearance at the helm with a captain's knock of 96 not out to give his team a reasonable total after they had been sent to bat first. Vaas and Zoysa ripped through the top of the Zimbabwe batting to have them reeling at one for two wickets. It soon became 78 for five, before Taibu who won the man-of-the-match award settled down to play a superb rearguard knock. With Alester Maregwede and Mluleki Nkala prepared to give good support to their captain, Taibu managed to raise the Zimbabwe total by 133 runs in 25 overs. Maregwede (37 off 44 balls) helped add 76 off 103 balls for the sixth wicket and then Nkala hit a sparkling 33 not out off 22 balls including two sixes of Muttiah Muralitharan to add a further 57 off 49 balls in an unfinished seventh wicket stand. Sri Lanka in their first international outing since arriving in Zimbabwe four days ago looked a bit relaxed on the field and nearly allowed Zimbabwe to get the better of them. Zoysa (3 for 21) and Vaas (1 for 31) were the pick of the bowlers with the spinners going slightly higher at over four an over. Nuwan Kulasekara's three overs of medium pace cost him 26 runs and may even cost him his place in the second game starting here on Thursday. ZIMBABWE V. Sibanda c Sangakkara b Zoysa 0 B. Taylor b Vaas 0 D. Ebrahim c Jayawardene b Zoysa 13 T. Taibu not out 96 E. Chigumbura c Muralitharan b Zoysa 13 S. Matsikenyeri st Sangakkara b Muralitharan 6 A. Maregwede c Dilshan b Chandana 37 M. Nkala not out 33 Extras (b-2 lb-5 nb-3 w-3) 13 TOTAL (for six wickets, 50 overs) 211 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 2-1 3-47 4-64 5-79 6-154. DID NOT BAT: T. Panyangara, D. Hondo, P. Utseya. BOWLING:Vaas 10-5-31-1, Zoysa 7-2-21-3, K Kulasekara 3-0-26-0, Muralitharan 10-1-47-1, Chandana 10-0-43-1, Jayasuriya 8-0-31-0, Arnold 2-1-5-0. SRI LANKA S. Jayasuriya c Ebrahim b Panyangara 9 M. Atapattu lbw b Hondo 0 K. Sangakkara not out 73 M. Jayawardene c Panyangara b Hondo 5 N. Zoysa c Taylor b Chigumbura 14 T. Dilshan not out 35 Extras (lb-3 w-5) 8 TOTAL (for four wickets, 27 overs) 144 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9 2-9 3-44 4-77. DID NOT BAT:R. Arnold, N. Kulasekara, M. Muralitharan, C. Vaas, U. Chandana. BOWLING:Hondo 7-1-34-2 (w-3), Panyangara 5-1-22-1, Chigumbera 5-0-32-1, Nkala 6-0-34-0 (w-1), Taibu 4-0-19-0 (w-1). Second match: April 22, Bulawayo Third match: April 25, Harare Fourth match: April 27, Harare Fifth match: April 29, Harare |
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