Tea Sri Lanka 184 for 3 (Chandimal 44*, Mathews 16*) trail Zimbabwe 356 (Ervine 160, Raza 36, Herath 5-116) by 172 runs
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Upul Tharanga fell for 71, run out at the non-striker’s end after Donald Tiripano got a hand on the ball © AFP
The loss of three wickets for 32 runs threatened to derail Sri Lanka’s innings soon after lunch, but new captain Dinesh Chandimal, and Angelo Mathews – the man he replaced – leant on their experience to becalm the innings, and had Sri Lanka moving steadily forward by tea. Although there is still little for bowlers on this surface, the mini-collapse has complicated Sri Lanka’s position slightly. Having been 77 for no loss at the start of the session, the hosts may have had hopes for a dominant first-innings score, but with the loss of their top three, those ambitions will have to be scaled back. At 184 for 3 at tea, they are still 172 short of Zimbabwe’s score.
A loose shot from Dimuth Karunaratne set Sri Lanka’s slide in motion. Having played cautiously right through the morning session, he attempted to cut a ball angled into him by Donald Tiripano, and sent a thick edge to slip, where Hamilton Masakadza held the sharp chance.
His confidence bolstered by that breakthrough, Tiripano then stacked the off side in-field, and delivered a disciplined spell, in which he dared the batsmen to take risks. No further wickets came for Tiripano but, at the other end, Kusal Mendis soon edged a bouncing, turning delivery from Graeme Cremer, which perhaps he did not need to play at. Mendis has often been jumpy at the start of his innings, and this knock was no different. In 15 balls at the crease, he attempted several pull shots and often found the fielders.
Upul Tharanga, meanwhile, could not have looked more natural. A spate of delectably timed drives and cuts had set him off roaring in the first session – his first 26 runs having come off only 14 balls. The spinners slowed him down, but nothing that Zimbabwe threw at him seemed likely to take his wicket. He picked off the seamers’ loose deliveries with a graceful ruthlessness, and made slinking advances down the pitch to combat the spinners, once hitting Sikander Raza over long-on for six. In the end, only his own languor got him out. When Dinesh Chandimal drove Tiripano straight, the bowler managed to get fingertips to the ball, which then clattered into the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Tharanga had not bothered to keep his bat in the crease, using it to lean on instead. His boot was on the crease, but not behind it. Of the three wickets that fell, his dismissal for 71 was by a distance the most wasteful, given the ease with which he had prospered until then.
Chandimal and Mathews went about the recovery in their own ways. Mathews, as ever, was a batting sponge, absorbing pressure, while Chandimal chose a slightly more adventurous route out of trouble, flicking the spinners through a packed leg side, and once creaming Chris Mpofu through the covers. He had hit six fours and moved to 44 off 74 balls by the break. Mathews was 16 off 53 – their partnership worth 68.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo