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SRI Lanka may have amassed a total of 537 at Harare Sports Club yesterday, but in the final session Tino Mawoyo and Hamilton Masakadza ensured that Zimbabwe were not about to go down without a fight in the first Test.The Sri Lanka team batted well to amass their daunting total, but their innings was also notable for more fielding and umpiring errors, all to Zimbabwe’s disadvantage.
Mawoyo and Masakadza took on the Sri Lankan bowlers, including the renowned Rangana Herath, who has 333 Test wickets to his credit, and put them to the sword with an array of fine strokes, to give their team hope of, at least, securing a draw in this first Test match.
Sri Lanka resumed on the second morning at their overnight score of 317 for four wickets, with Upul Tharanga on 13 and Dhananjaya de Silva 10. The first session was similar to that of the first day, with persistent and spirited although not penetrative Zimbabwe bowling being successfully countered by determined Sri Lankan batting.
The Zimbabweans did have a chance early on, as de Silva, on 19, cut at a ball from Graeme Cremer and edged it to the wicketkeeper, PJ Moor, who was unable to hold it. Only 34 runs came in the first hour, a tribute to the accurate bowling. Then de Silva, trying to break the shackles, drove a ball from Cremer straight to long-off and was out for 25. This brought in the debutant Asela Gunaratne.
He began with understandable caution, but soon began to play some good positive strokes. Tharanga continued his patient game, but when he reached 41 the lack of the Decision Referral System (DRS) once again counted against Zimbabwe.
Tharanga swept at a ball from Cremer, which ran off to fine leg as the Zimbabweans appealed for lbw. The umpire Simon Fry gave it as three runs to the batsman, but the television replay showed that the ball was straight and gave no sign that the bat had touched the ball at all.
After lunch Sri Lanka decided to step up the tempo.
Gunaratne in particular took the attack to the bowlers, and Tharanga then decided he didn’t want to miss the party. Tharanga on 66 drove the ball low and hard to short extra-cover, a difficult chance which Mawoyo was unable to hold. Gunaratne on 54 escaped a borderline lbw decision against Donald Tiripano, but in the next over, without addition, he tried to pull a ball from Williams and skied a catch to midwicket.
Umpire blunder struck for at least the third time, as Fry rejected an lbw appeal by Cremer against Tharanga that the replay showed would have been overturned by DRS.
This was Tharanga’s second let-off by Fry. Finally Zimbabwe turned in a piece of brilliant fielding, as Chris Mpofu ran out Dilruwan Perera for 23. Carl Mumba finally picked up his first Test wicket when Rangana Herath (7) tried to turn a ball to leg but simply spooned a catch to square leg.
After the interval Tharanga finally reached only his second Test century in an 11-year career. Mawoyo and Brian Chari opened the Zimbabwe batting against the bowling of Lakmal and Kumara.
Mawoyo did not inspire confidence when he flicked at and missed Lakmal’s first ball of the innings outside the off stump, but then he realised it was safer to leave those. Nineteen runs were scored in the first five overs, and then Herath put himself on to bowl his left-arm spin in place of Kumara, whose two overs had cost 14 runs. He struck with his fourth ball, trapping Chari lbw for five, beaten on the back foot. Masakadza got away with a couple of streaky shots, being dropped at slip when he had a single.
Scores
Sri Lanka — 537 all out in 155 overs (Upul Tharanga 110*, Kusal Perera 110, Kaushal Silva 94; Graeme Cremer 4/142, Chris Mpofu 2/96)
Zimbabwe — 88 for 1 in 23 overs (Tino Mawoyo 41*, Hamilton Masakadza 33*; Rangana Herath1/29)
Stumps — Day 2: Zimbabwe trail by 449 runs with nine wickets remaining in the first innings — Zimcricket.
Online Reporter