adminRAIN gave Zimbabwe an unexpected boost in their bid to fight for a draw in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Harare Sports Club yesterday on a day debutant Carl Mumba took four wickets.Sri Lanka continued batting until after tea, taking their lead to 411 as they wanted to make sure of putting Zimbabwe out of the match altogether.
They may regret not declaring earlier, though, as the rain washed out the final 31 overs of play and naturally reduced the amount of time Zimbabwe will have to survive for a draw on the final day.
Sri Lanka were five without loss overnight, with Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva at the crease.
The pitch was still playing well on the whole, although there were a few widening cracks, causing the ball to keep low or otherwise misbehave if it hit them.
Chris Mpofu and Carl Mumba bowled well at the outset and the batsmen had to play with care, finding it difficult to get the score moving at the rate they would have wished.
Mumba bowled a good delivery to Silva (7), which he played on to his leg stump off the inside edge; 17 for one.
At 72 Perera sliced a drive off Malcolm Waller, but failed to cover the spin away and Hamilton Masakadza at slip leapt to his left to take a fine catch.
Kusal Mendis settled in well and took the score past 100 in partnership with Karunaratne, but on the stroke of lunch he miscued a flick to leg off Mumba and skied a catch to mid-on.
He made 19 and Sri Lanka went in to lunch at 111 for three, with Karunaratne on 65.
Just two overs after lunch Mumba bowled a ball well outside the off stump to the new man, Upul Tharanga, who went for it half-heartedly, but edged a straight-forward catch to the keeper and was out for one; 117 for four.
The bowlers could do little to stop the steady flow of runs as Dhananjaya de Silva joined Karunaratne.
Karunaratne moved on to his century, which he brought up after facing 162 balls.
At this point Sri Lanka were 357 runs ahead, but with a day and a half to go there was no need to be thinking of a declaration yet.
Karunaratne reached 110 before being out to an easy catch after being deceived by a slower ball from Mpofu.
His fine innings lasted 173 balls and hit seven fours, the score being 213 for five now.
As thunder rumbled in the distance, de Silva, perhaps deceived by the bounce, miscued a drive and hit a straight-forward catch to cover.
He made 64 off 82 balls; 241 for six.
A few minutes later, at about half-past three, the umpires took the players off the field as the light deteriorated; the score was 247 for six, with Gunaratne on 16 and Perera one.
There was a short, sharp downpour and when that stopped the ground staff started to remove the covers, only for a second burst of rain to stop them.
It was decided that no more play was possible.
Scores
Sri Lanka — 537 and 247 for 6 in 61.5 overs (Dimuth Karunaratne 110, Dhananjaya de Silva 64; Carl Mumba 4/50)
Zimbabwe — 373 all out in 107.5 overs (Graeme Cremer 102*, PJ Moor 79, Donald Tiripano 46; Suranga Lakmal 3/69, Rangana Herath 3/97, Dilruwan Perera 2/66)
Stumps — Day 4: Sri Lanka lead by 411 runs with four wickets remaining. — zimcricket.
Online Reporter