Chevrons need bowling lift

HAMBANTOTA. – Who would want to be a limited-overs bowler?

For so long, Sri Lanka had been the home of the lower-scoring ODI, but in the past week, two totals of more than 300 have been mowed down, which suggests the island’s tracks are also beginning to conform to a global trend.

As with so many of the pitches during the recent Champions Trophy, two of the three pitches in this series have afforded virtually no seam movement, and no menacing turn. While the bowlers have been defanged – Zimbabwe especially having failed to take more than five wickets in any of the three innings so far – Sri Lanka’s batsmen appear to be in a good rhythm.

The two teams battle against here today. Chief among them is Upul Tharanga, who, batting in an unfamiliar no. 4 position, has scored 198 runs in the series without having been dismissed.

The openers have been in strapping form, and virtually everyone else in the top six has contributed a score as well.

Zimbabwe must now win both remaining matches, if they are to avoid a series defeat, but a newly inspired Sri Lanka top order stands in their way.

The key, for them, is the discipline in their spin bowling; on Thursday, the hosts’ openers were fed too many wayward deliveries in the middle overs, and found it too easy to work the ball around.

Both sides’ catching is under the microscope too.
On batting-friendly surfaces, wicket-taking opportunities are at a premium, and bowlers need their team-mates to convert every chance that comes their way. Graeme Cremer came into the series with some form from the Scotland tour, and also the Pro50 at home, but is yet to make a substantial contribution in this series.

Partly this is down to indiscipline.
‘‘There’s not much you can change in one day. We will take the positives and try and restrict them,” Cremer said on the quick turnaround. Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Matthews wants his top order to be run machines.

“We can lose one or two games, but if we bat well every day that’s great. Some days we don’t do well. If we want to improve we need to be consistent,” he said. Ryan Burl was unavailable for the third ODI after being briefly admitted to hospital, having unwittingly consumed food he was allergic to.

Though he comes back into contention for this game, Zimbabwe may be tempted to stick with his replacement Tarisai Musakanda, who hit 48 from no. 3. Tendai Chatara had an indifferent outing in the last match, but as he remains Zimbabwe’s top wicket taker in the series, will likely retain his place.

Carl Mumba may also get another run as the second seamer, having returned an economy rate of 5.68 in 6.2 overs.

Zimbabwe (possible): 1 Solomon Mire, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Tarisai Musakanda, 4 Craig Ervine, 5 Sean Williams, 6 Malcolm Waller, 6 Sikander Raza, 8 Peter Moor (wk), 9 Graeme Cremer (capt.), 10 Tendai Chatara, 11 Carl Mumba – Cricinfo.