|
SL made to work
hard for a 144-run win; Tharanga scores another
ton |
October 10, 2006 (Link to
Scorecard)
Sri Lanka won their second game of the Champions
Trophy by 144 runs against Zimbabwe but they had
to toil hard for 42.3 overs to get the 10
wickets of the Minnows at Ahmedabad. Zimbabwe
never had the batting to challenge Sri Lanka or
for that matter anyone at the international
level and it was a net session in the middle for
all its batsmen. The Lankans couldn't quite run
through the Zimbabwean batting as its spinners
found it difficult to grip the wet ball and get
it turn on the surface. Upul Tharanga was the
star of the game once again with his second
successive century in this tournament which also
happens to be his 6th in his very short career.
Mahela Jayawardene had won the toss and elected
to bat first with just the one change in his
side that of resting Chaminda Vaas to bring in
left armer Ruchira Perera. Zimbabwe had also
made one change dropping the impressive Edward
Rainsford to include Tawanda Mupariwa who had
opened the bowling with Anthony Ireland. The
start from Tharanga and Jayasuriya was sedate as
they couldn't really get going. Jayasuriya who
had scored 9 from 15 deliveries was the first
casualty as he backed up a long distance and
never looked to get back to the crease when
Tharanga's drive was played to covers. Elton
Chigumbura was the fielder at covers seizing the
opportunity to run out Jayasuriya at the non
striker's end. Sri Lanka received its second
setback when it had lost its skipper Mahela
Jayawardene after he had chased a wide and
nothing delivery from Ireland to give a simple
catch to the keeper.
At 49 for 2 in the 11th over, it just didn't
look like a proper approach from the batsmen as
a score of 300 plus was expected from them.
Tharanga was still there though and he had Kumar
Sangakkara who was taking his time to settle
down. Both batsmen weren't in any hurry and the
partnership slowly but steadily gained the
momentum. The third wicket partnership was going
great guns with Upul Tharanga notching up his
second century in a row with this one coming in
120 balls with 12 fours and a six over long off.
Kumar Sangakkara got his 50 in 66 balls which
meant that his innings wasn't the smoothest one
in his career. There wasn't much pace that these
two left handers could use and under the warm
conditions it wasn't easy to force the pace
against the slow bowlers Prosper Utseya and leg
spinner Tafadzwa Kamungozi.
The third wicket partnership ended at 165 runs
with Tharanga getting bowled by a slow off break
from Matsikenyeri after the left hander had
looked to play a big shot. Tharanga made 110
from 130 balls with 13 fours and a six.
Sangakkara who had shifted gears got out in the
next over holing down to Matsikenyeri off slow
medium pacer Justice Chibhabha. Sangakkara
scored 80 from 86 balls with 7 hits to the
fence. Sri Lanka finished at 285 for 7 only as
it never got any big sixes coming from the rest
of the batsmen. Former Skipper, Marvan Atapattu
eased his way to an unbeaten 30-ball 33. Prosper
Utseya finished with 1 for 58 and Kamungozi with
2 for 55.
Zimbabwe in their chase lost three early wickets
to Lasith Malinga and Ruchira Perera as the
batsmen couldn't handle the movement and the
bounce. The Zimbabweans were expected to be
bundled out once again but Hamilton Masakadza
and Brendan Taylor with their 30s had ensured
that there was no embarrassment this time
around. Taylor in particular was looking
impressive with some beautiful backfoot cover
drives off Farveez Maharoof. The pair had put on
63 for the 4th wicket before Taylor was cleaned
up by Dilhara Fernando's incoming delivery.
After Taylor's exit, Zimbabwe lost wickets in a
heap and it was simply nonsense cricket from
then onwards. Tawanda Mupariwa who had joined
his skipper Prosper Utseya was blocking each
delivery without any purpose and the match was
heading towards a late finish. The Sri Lankans
were more troubled by all sorts of insects and
moths that were getting onto them rather than
the ultra defensive play from these two players.
The 8th wicket partnership for Zims between
Utseya and Mupariwa lasted for 76 deliveries
before Murali could finally get Utseya to nick
his straighter one to the slip fielder. Utseya
had scored 20 from 45 balls. It took the Lankans
41 more deliveries to take the remaining two
wickets with Tawanda Mupariwa getting bowled by
Lasith Malinga after a heroic effort of 20 from
67 balls according to the Zim standards. Lasith
Malinga was the most successful bowler with 3
for 25 and he has been quite accurate with his
line and length. Dilhara Fernando was decent
with 2 for 28 and Murali didn't really enjoy
bowling with the wet ball to finish with 2 for
20 in his 10 overs. Sri Lanka wouldn't be happy
with the 18 wides and 8 noballs bowled by them.
Upul Tharanga was the obvious choice for the Man
of the Match and this youngster looks good for
some more centuries in his career. This match
has shown the effect of dew on the performance
of the spinners and the fact that it becomes
very easy to bat last once the dew sets in. So
far we have had only one sided affairs but the
main draw of the tournament will depend on the
outcome of the toss as the dew is there to stay
and make the best of the bowlers look ordinary!
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