Sri Lanka 537 (Kusal Perera 110, Tharanga 110, Cremer 4-142) and 247 for 6 dec. (Karunaratne 110, de Silva 64, Mumba 4-50) beat Zimbabwe 373 (Cremer 102, Moor 79, Lakmal 3-69, Herath 3-97) and 186 (Cremer 43, Dilruwan 3-34, Herath 3-38) by 225 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Graeme Cremer followed his hundred in the first innings with 43 © Associated Press
Graeme Cremer soaked up 175 balls and 121 dots to lead another lower-order rally and raise Zimbabwe’s hopes of saving their 100th Test, but Sri Lanka dug deep into their reserves to secure a hard-earned victory with 45 balls to spare.
When the last hour began, Zimbabwe needed to bat out 15 overs with Cremer on 41 and No. 10 Carl Mumba on 3. Both batsmen played close to their bodies with a straight bat, blocking single-mindedly, and leaving Sri Lanka on the tenterhooks. They negotiated four more overs before Cremer attempted an injudicious flick against the turn, off Rangana Herath, and was stumped for 43. He had faced 351 balls across both innings, the second-most by a No. 8 in a Test behind Wasim Akram’s 363, which incidentally came against Zimbabwe in 1996.
Nineteen balls after the key wicket of Cremer, Dilruwan Perera knocked out Chris Mpofu’s off stump to wrap up Sri Lanka’s 225-run victory.
Full report to follow
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo