Published: Jul 17, 2017, 11:52 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 17, 2017, 12:39 PM (IST)
Zimbabwe, after recovering from a disastrous position yesterday, now find themselves in a situation from where they can go on to register a historic win. In the 18 Tests they have played (before this one) against Sri Lanka, they have not been able to win a single match –13 defeats and 5 draws. However, with a lead of 262 with still four wickets in hand, they are now in an excellent position to change that abysmal record.
Malcolm Waller, who was involved in an unbeaten 107-run stand with Sikandar Raza, said the guys carried forward the confidence they got after winning the ODI series into the Test match. “The guys are extremely positive after the one-day series,” Waller said. “It was great and it helped all of us mentally. We thought we’ve got a great chance here. If we can go out there tomorrow and put on another 100 runs, you never know what’s going to happen. It will give us a really good fighting chance.”
Zimbabwe had earlier been reduced to 59 for 5, before Sikandar Raza stitched two match-changing partnerships: first with PJ Moor, then with Waller. “It was a really shaky start and it put us under lot of pressure in the changing room,” he said. “But the batters, we sat down and talked about going out and fighting, and showing that we mean business.”
“It was a great partnership between Raza and PJ Moor. I think that stabilised the things and brought back the positivity. At the end of the day, we can be happy with what we have.”
According to Sri Lanka’s interim coach Nic Pothas, the pitch had become easier for batting, but Waller said the conditions were testing and batting wasn’t as easy as Raza and he made it look. While there was turn on the pitch, only occasional deliveries leapt out, he observed.
“I wouldn’t say that is really easy for batting. We saw the odd one did turn. You’re always going to get the odd one that turn and jump. I think we were concentrating on every ball and it’s never easy out there. Especially in the second innings in Sri Lanka, the pressure is always on. Graeme Cremer, being a wrist spinner – there is more turn for him than the finger spinners.”
Zimbabwe had come into the Sri Lankan series on the back of series loss against Afghanistan and were also beaten by Scotland in an ODI match. But the way they have transformed themselves into a competitive unit on this tour has been really amazing.
“We came a long way to here and we’ve had a good couple of weeks on tour now. I think we’re starting to gel really well now. Guys are getting good ideas, and it’s definitely a lot more positive in the camp. We’ve got good fighting spirits and everyone is getting on well. Everyone is helping each other and pushing on.”
Zimbabwe finished Day 3 on 252 for 6 and lead Sri Lanka by 262 runs.
