HARARE: Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath claimed five wickets as Sri Lanka took control of the second and final Test against Zimbabwe on day three on Tuesday.
In isolation, the final session on day three was among Zimbabwe’s best in the series. They attacked, bowled with purpose and intensity to remove four Sri Lankan wickets. But conceding a 232-run lead due to series of injudicious shots against spin, meant they were left to play catch up yet again. Sri Lanka, who went into stumps on 102 for 4, had opened up a 334-run lead with two full days remaining.
Barring spells of torrential rain that hit the region prior to the start of the series, Zimbabwe will be faced with yet another uphill battle to save the Test. That 108.1 overs are the most they’ve batted in the fourth innings in their history indicates the magnitude of the task that awaits them. With 180 overs left in the Test, there’s every chance they could be left to script a new record, even if it may seem unlikely, given their travails against Rangana Herath’s left-arm spin.
Batsman after batsman played for turn when there was none. While some like Craig Ervine and Brian Chari were out lbw, others like Malcolm Waller and Graeme Cremer were beaten in flight and out to expansive drives. One wicket was all it took for doubts to creep into the batsmen’s minds as a measured approach at the start of proceedings gave way to attempts to throw the bowlers off.
Herath, benefited the most from this approach as he finished with 5 for 89 to become just the third bowler after Muttiah Muralitharan and Dale Steyn to pick up five-wicket hauls against all Test nations. But to just give Herath all the credit for Zimbabwe’s downfall wouldn’t be doing justice to his team-mates. Dilruwan Perera, the offspinner, exploited the rough to pick three wickets, while right-arm seamer Suranga Lakmal had two. All the bowlers were supported by an agile slip cordon that hung on to tough chances.
Score Board
Zimbabwe won toss
Sri Lanka 1st innings 504 dec (de Silva 127, D Gunaratne 116; D Tiripano 3-91)
Zimbabwe 1st innings 272 all-out (B Chari 80; H Herath 5-89)
Sri Lanka 2nd innings
F D M Karunaratne not out 54
J K Silva c Waller b Mumba 6
B K G Mendis c Mpofu b Mumba 0
W U Tharanga lbw b Cremer 17
D M de Silva c Chari b Mumba 9
D A S Gunaratne not out 6
Extras (b 6, lb 4) 10
Total (4 wickets; 40 overs) 102
To bat: †M D K J Perera, M D K Perera, *H M R K B Herath, R A S Lakmal, C B R L S Kumara
Fall: 1-14, 2-16, 3-44, 4-84
Bowling: Mpofu 9-2-17-0; Mumba 11-3-31-3; Cremer 8-1-21-1; Tiripano 6-3-4-0; Williams 5-0-16-0; Chari 1-0-3-0
Umpires: S D Fry (Australia) and I J Gould (England). TV umpire: M Erasmus (South Africa). Match referee: B C Broad (England)