Tea Sri Lanka 346 and 56 for no loss (Karunaratne 29*, Tharanga 27*) need another 332 runs to beat Zimbabwe 356 and 377 (Raza 127, Waller 68, Herath 6-133, Perera 3-95)
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Rangana Herath completed his eighth 10-wicket haul in Tests © AFP
Sri Lanka’s openers began the chase of 388 with some fluency, moving the score to 56 for no loss by tea, after Zimbabwe’s stubborn lower order had added 125 runs to their overnight score, having batted for 39.1 overs on the fourth day.
On display from Dimuth Karunaratne and Upul Tharanga was a positive frame of mind. Some balls turned, others didn’t, and both edges of the bat were beaten during 18 overs of the fourth innings so far, but drives, cuts and lap-sweeps continued to be played. In contrast to the first innings, Karunaratne provided the innings’ impetus, picking up effortless runs through the outfield to make 29 from 44 balls before the break. Tharanga, who had sped away early in his innings on day two, was more watchful this time, making 27 off 64 balls.
Graeme Cremer, who had been Zimbabwe’s main actor with the bat on day four, hitting 48 runs, only bowled four overs in the session, but already appeared the most likely Zimbabwe bowler to take a wicket. Sean Williams and Sikander Raza opened the bowling. No seamers have operated so far.
Sri Lanka had been set 388 – which, if pursued, would be the highest successful chase ever in Sri Lanka, and the fifth-highest overall – partly because of their bowler’s continuing lack of menace on the fourth day, though perhaps an unhelpful surface can take some of the blame. Through large parts of Monday, Rangana Herath again appeared the sole Sri Lankan threat, picking up two further wickets to take his tally to 11 for the Test.
Dilruwan Perera provided better support for Herath on Monday, but one of his two wickets was the result of a poor shot from Malcolm Waller, who put a legside long hop straight into the hands of deep midwicket. Suranga Lakmal finished wicketless after 28 overs in the match. Lahiru Kumara was a little better, gleaning some reverse swing with the old ball, but still did not create more than one chance on day four – an edge off Graeme Cremer’s bat that flew through vacant third slip.
Full report to follow
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo