Two days after a senior ICC delegation turned up to assess Zimbabwe’s suitability for a return to Test cricket, the country’s batsmen ruined everything by cobbling together only 67 runs in a backs-to-the-wall 31 overs against Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Their dismal nine wicket defeat followed one that was barely better on Thursday in the first of the five match one-day international series, when Zimbabwe struggled to reach 124.
They have thus made fewer than 200 runs in two innings, while the tourists have required only five completed individual innings, leaving some batsmen short of batting practice and with others getting none at all.
PHOTO: AFP
Home skipper Prosper Utseya won the toss and decided to bat, defying the accepted tradition at Harare Sports Club in taking to the field. It was, on the evidence of what followed, a bad move.
The Sri Lankans disdainfully knocked off the required 68 runs to win by nine wickets and go two up in the five-match series.
Their score, reached just 10 balls after lunch, was 71-1 in 31 sedate and casual overs.
Zimbabwe brought in Sean Williams to bolster their middle order and he made 10 runs. Tatenda Taibu was top scorer with 12. The Zimbabweans lost their first three wickets for 22 and it was desperately uphill from there.
Ajantha Mendis took four for 16 in six overs, while Farveez Maharoof captured three for 26 in eight.
Sri Lanka almost polished off Zimbabwe even before lunch. They were just 16 runs short of victory when the umpires decided to take the lunch break.
In doing so the umpires only just avoided a gathering rainstorm as the players resumed the field. The two Sri Lanka batsmen made 29 and 26 respectively.
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