Sean Williams crunches one through the off side © AFP
Toss: Zimbabwe chose to bat against Sri Lanka
Zimbabwe have won the toss and chosen to bat, in their first Test in over a year, at the Harare Sports Club.
The hosts have three debutants in their XI – opener Kevin Kasuza, seam bowler Victor Nyauchi, and left-arm spinner Ainsley Ndlovu. Including Nyauchi, they have three specialist seam bowlers in their XI, with the experienced pairing of Kyle Jarvis and Donald Tiripano in the mix too. Ndlovu is the only specialist spinner, but have other options in finger-spinning allounders Sikandar Raza and captain Sean Williams.
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have dropped offspinner Dilruwan Perera from the XI that lost in Karachi last month, and have fielded an extra seam bowler in Kasun Rajitha. Lasith Embuldeniya is their only specialist spinner, though they also have a fingerspinning allrounder in Dhananjaya de Silva.
The visitors’ batting line-up is as expected; Oshada Fernando will partner captain Dimuth Karunaratne at the top of the order, and Kusal Mendis is likely to bat No. 3. There was no space for Lahiru Thirimanne in the XI.
Some rain is forecast for the first day.
Zimbabwe: 1 Kevin Kasuza, 2 Prince Masvaure, 3 Brendan Taylor, 4 Craig Ervine, 5 Sean Williams (capt) 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Regis Chakabva (wk), 8 Donald Tiripano, 9 Victory Nyauchi, 10 Kyle Jarvis, 11 Ainsley Ndlovu
Sri Lanka: 1. Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Oshada Fernando, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Dinesh Chandimal, 6 Niroshan Dickwella, 7 Dhananjaya de Silva, 8 Suranga Lakmal, 9 Lasith Embuldeniya, 10 Kasun Rajitha, 11 Lahiru Kumara
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @afidelf
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo