Published: Jul 16, 2017, 03:11 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 16, 2017, 05:57 PM (IST)
After a top-order collapse, Zimbabwe batsmen Sikandar Raza and Peter Moor held fort as they took the team to a 136-run lead against Sri Lanka in the only Test at Colombo. The first session of Day Three saw 7 wickets fall, including 4 in Zimbabwe’s innings. A skilled Sri Lanka spin-attack, led by Rangana Herath, cleared the Zimbabwe top-order within a short span. However, after lunch, Zimbabwe fought back in form of a partnership between Raza and Moor that handed the side a healthy lead. As the teams take tea, Raza remained unbeaten at 45 with Moor at 30, keeping Zimbabwe’s hopes alive. Live cricket scorecard: Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe, One-off Test
Coming back from lunch, Sean Williams kept batting with Sikandar Raza in search of their first stable partnership. Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal did not change the combination of Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera, given both were effectively producing turns which left the batsmen in confusion. Though both Williams and Raza were eager to score runs, they played patiently and tried to read the pitch, conditions and how the ball might react, and their batting looked impressive and skillful. However, they could not build big on the partnership as Williams got out for 22. It was a brilliant tactic by Herath, who first set Williams up with few deliveries in his zone and then turning the ball slightly in to find the gap and bowl him out.
After the 36-run partnership with Williams, Raza continued batting with Moor, building the biggest and most crucial partnership of the innings. For Moor, Chandimal brought in Lahiru Kumara from one end and Perera from the other. However, the batsman improvised throughout his innings, finding gap with time and becoming comfortable at the crease. Meanwhile, a Kumara-beamer hit him on the helmet, without causing any unpleasant incident.
The duo brought up 100-run lead for Zimbabwe, which released some pressure after the rally of wickets. Another highlight of Raza’s batting was a certain Herath over in which he fearlessly approached the bowler to hit him for 3 fours.
With an unbeaten 67-run partnership, Zimbabwe will now hope these two batsmen to take charge and make the lead as big as 220, which will be a problem for Sri Lanka to chase on day- four wicket.
Brief scores:
Zimbabwe 356 and 136 for 5 (Sikandar Raza 45*, Peter Moor 30*; Rangana Herath 4 for 47, Dilruwan Perera 1 for 32) lead Sri Lanka 346 (Upul Tharanga 71, Dinesh Chandimal 55, Angelo Mathews 41, Asela Gunaratne 45; Graeme Cremer 5 for 125, Sean Williams 2 for 62) by 136 runs.
