Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe, Only Test at Colombo, Jul 14 2017, Zimbabwe tour of Sri Lanka

RESULT
Only Test, Colombo (RPS), July 14 - 18, 2017, Zimbabwe tour of Sri Lanka
PrevNext
356 & 377
(T:388) 346 & 391/6

Sri Lanka won by 4 wickets

Player Of The Match
2/28, 45 & 80*
asela-gunaratne
Player Of The Series
22 runs • 11 wkts
rangana-herath
Match centre 
Comms: Akshay Gopalakrishnan
Scorecard summary
Zimbabwe 356/10(94.4 overs)
1st INNINGS
160 (256)
5/116 (32)
2/68 (17.4)
Sri Lanka 346/10(102.3 overs)
1st INNINGS
71 (107)
5/125 (39.3)
Zimbabwe 377/10(107.1 overs)
2nd INNINGS
127 (205)
6/133 (39.1)
Sri Lanka 391/6(114.5 overs)
2nd INNINGS
80* (151)
2/146 (43.5)

Sri Lanka stand behind the Champions banner as well-deserved winners. They maintain their proud record at home, and what a start Dinesh Chandimal has had to his captaincy career. This has been a famous win for Sri Lanka. This Test will be spoken of for a long, long time. Sri Lanka will rejoice for now, but it will be back to work pretty soon with a tough series against India looming. This is all we have from here. The first of the Women's World Cup semifinals has just got underway, so do switch tabs to catch out coverage of that. From here, it's goodbye from myself and Deiva. Thank you for joining us!

mo: "Some grounds are just destined to be in the record books. Only 9 Tests played at the Premadasa yet the highest Test score of all time as well as the highest successful chase in Asia have been made here."

"It's been a really good five days, so credit goes to all the players, they stuck to the plans and went there and did their best,"says Dinesh Chandimal. "It's always tough when you're batting in the fourth innings but I told the team that they should play their normal game and they played some outstanding innings, especially Dickwella and Asela. Of course,it's always challenging as a captain but it's about doing the right things on and off the field. It (series against India) is obviously a tough challenge for us. As a team, everyone does their best, and I hope they will do the same against India."

"Disappointing but credit to Sri Lanka, to chase 380 on a day-five pitch is pretty special," says Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer. "So credit to them, but credit to our guys as well. The way the guys fought and got the runs on the board and pushed Sri Lanka till he last day was great. We don't play enough Test cricket, so it'shard sometimes making decisions out there, but there is a lot to learn from this Test match. The one-day series is a high point for us, we brought that confidence into the Test match and it gave us the belief that we could push the big teams."

Rangana Herath is the Player of the series. "I know I have bowled a lot of overs, but when you still enjoy playing cricket, I wouldn't mind bowling more in future," he says. "Good to hear that I went past those guys. Overall, this Test match was very good. They were playing sweeps and reverse sweeps,which made it hard for us. But we played better than Zimbabwe, that is why we are here."

Asela Gunaratne is the Player of the Match. Asela Gunaratne says he is extremely happy with the way he played, despite not being fully fit.

This is only third time in Tests that all four innings have been between 300 and 400.

Perera raises his arms and punches the air. Handshakes from both sides. Spare a thought for Zimbabwe. They stayed in this until the very end. They began the year with defeats to Scotland and Afghanistan, but they have plenty to be proud of after this tour. Won the ODI series, nearly pulled off their first Test against Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe are gathered into a huddle. They deserve a word of appreciation for the fight they have shown. Cremer finally puts on a feeble smile as shakes the hand of the opposition captain. He bowled his heart out. For 48 overs, he gave it his all, but Zimbabwe faltered towards the very end, fluffing a few chances. Regis Chakabva had a torrid day behind the stumps but he will come out of this with a world of experience. Questions will be asked of that decision from C Shamshuddin that enabled Dickwella to survive. From there, Sri Lanka never looked back, and pulled off the highest successful chase in Sri Lanka, and the fifth-highest of all time. Stay tuned, we will bring the presentations to you shortly.

Samraat: "Series started with highest ODI chase in SL and Now ended with highest successful chase in Test in SL.Perfect !!!!!!!!!"

Ananda: "Sri Lanka deserved to win and they did. Very few people gave them a chance. Beating this Zimbabwe team is no easy task. They are no pushovers. Well done Zimbabwe too. Hope you get more test matches against top sides. "

Thinus: "I would rather vote for Raza as the MOM. That second innings recovery was amazing!"

Uday: "Wish there was another Test match between these two teams - one off Tests should be scrapped."

114.5
4
Williams to Perera, FOUR runs

fuller outside off, driven through covers, and that seals it

114.4
Williams to Perera, no run

full on middle and leg, defended

114.3
Williams to Perera, no run

pitches outside leg and hits him on the pad as he comes forward to defend

114.2
Williams to Perera, no run

brings out the sweep but the ball pitches outside leg and he makes no contact

114.1
1
Williams to Gunaratne, 1 run

short of a length, pulled straight to deep midwicket. Just the one. Scores level

ZCFOutkast: "No disrespect to Herath and Cremer, but Craig Ervine must be THE Man of the Match. Without him there wouldn't have been much of a MATCH."

114.1
1w
Williams to Gunaratne, 1 wide

pitches outside leg, tries to tuck but pulls his bat out late

Sri Lanka one hit away from a historic win.

end of over 1145 runs
SL: 385/6CRR: 3.37 
Dilruwan Perera25 (72b 3x4)
Asela Gunaratne79 (150b 6x4)
Graeme Cremer 48-6-150-4
Sean Williams 43-2-140-2
113.6
4
Cremer to Perera, FOUR runs

poor delivery. Short and spinning away and giving him all the room he wants and he swivels with a powerful pull between deep midwicket and long-on

113.5
Cremer to Perera, no run

short and wide and a little flat, cuts off the backfoot and chops it to covers

113.4
Cremer to Perera, no run

front foot defence down the pitch

113.3
Cremer to Perera, no run

tries a hurried punch off the backfoot, no room and he gets beaten and the ball misses off stump closely

113.2
Cremer to Perera, no run

keeps a little low around off, jams the bat down and defends

113.1
1
Cremer to Gunaratne, 1 run

tossed up outside leg, swept to long leg

end of over 1133 runs
SL: 380/6CRR: 3.36 
Dilruwan Perera21 (67b 2x4)
Asela Gunaratne78 (149b 6x4)
Sean Williams 43-2-140-2
Graeme Cremer 47-6-145-4
112.6
2
Williams to Perera, 2 runs

gets down for a big sweep from outside leg and lobs it in the air off the top edge, evades leg slip

112.5
Williams to Perera, no run

pitching outside leg, pads it away

112.4
Williams to Perera, no run

pads this flighted delivery away as it lands outside leg

112.3
1
Williams to Gunaratne, 1 run

flighted outside leg, swept to fine leg

112.2
Williams to Gunaratne, no run

pitched up on leg, defended off the front foot

112.1
Williams to Gunaratne, no run

gets down to sweep and misses as the ball goes down the leg side, well past the leg stump

ManiBharathi: "Thanks for not publishing my comment! So, I followed the entire day for searching my comments, eventually followed the match till the end. #ReversePsychology :-) " Ha!

end of over 1121 run
SL: 377/6CRR: 3.36 
Dilruwan Perera19 (64b 2x4)
Asela Gunaratne77 (146b 6x4)
Graeme Cremer 47-6-145-4
Sean Williams 42-2-137-2
111.6
Cremer to Perera, no run

very full on middle and off, blocked back off the front foot

111.5
Cremer to Perera, no run

just back of a length, spinning away from around leg, defended to short leg

Best performances - batters
Spike Graph
Wagon Zone
CR Ervine
160 runs (256)
13 fours1 six
Productive shot
flick
23 runs
0 four0 six
Control
92%
Sikandar Raza
127 runs (205)
9 fours1 six
Productive shot
on drive
22 runs
2 fours1 six
Control
95%
Best performances - bowlers
HMRKB Herath
O
39.1
M
5
R
133
W
6
ECO
3.39
FTYFGSGS
OFFLEG
RHB
1W
1W
3W
LEGOFF
LHB
1W
AG Cremer
O
39.3
M
4
R
125
W
5
ECO
3.16
FTYFGSGS
OFFLEG
RHB
2W
1W
1W
LEGOFF
LHB
1W
Match details
R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
TossZimbabwe, elected to bat first
Series
Season2017
Player Of The Match
Player Of The Series
Series resultSri Lanka won the one-off match
Match numberTest no. 2263
Hours of play (local time)10am start, Lunch 12.00-12.40, Tea 14.40-15.00, Close 17.00
Match days14,15,16,17,18 July 2017 - day (5-day match)
Test debut
Umpires
TV Umpire
Reserve Umpire
Match Referee
AskESPNcricinfo Logo
Instant answers to T20 questions
Sri Lanka Innings
<1 / 3>