Lunch Sri Lanka 397 for 5 (Tharanga 51*, Gunaratne 23*) v Zimbabwe
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
File photo – Upul Tharanga struck his sixth Test fifty on the second morning © AFP
On the second morning, Zimbabwe’s bowlers found their discipline. On a placid Harare surface, offering nothing to seam or spin, the bowlers combined to choke Sri Lanka’s run-rate for a majority of the morning session. Sri Lanka still managed to accumulate 80 runs in 30 overs on an attritional second morning. Upul Tharanga carried on to make his sixth test fifty, his unbeaten 51 helped Sri Lanka to 397 for 5 at lunch.
Seamers Chris Mpofu and Carl Mumba began the day by hanging the ball well outside the off stump, asking overnight batsmen Tharanga and Dhananjaya de Silva to fetch their runs. The batsmen were content in seeing off their opening spell, occasionally wafting at the bowlers’ inviting lines. Both teams were satisfied with the start.
In their recent Test series against New Zealand, Zimbabwe’s bowlers displayed competence in consistency but weren’t able to ‘bore’ batsmen for long enough. Newly-appointed coach Heath Streak may have already turned that around. Barring the sporadic overpitched delivery, the bowlers repeatedly hit the same lines and lengths through the session. Zimbabwe conceded just 50 runs in the first 24 overs of the morning.
De Silva could muster 15 runs in 55 balls in the morning before stepping out to legspinner Graeme Cremer. He failed to get to the pitch of the ball, went through with the stroke and ended up skewing his wicket away, caught at long-off. Zimbabwe created a wicket, their only one in the morning.
Tharanga milked the bowling for the rest of the session, capitalizing on anything short and unleashing his productive cuts and dabs behind square on the off side. After Cremer blocked that option out with a full length, Tharanga chose to sweep with the spin, including a lofted heave over midwicket to bring up his fifty.
Debutant Asela Gunaratne showed a compact technique and an ability to maneuver the field in his unbeaten 42-ball 23, an innings that featured four boundaries.
Nikhil Kalro is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo