Solomon Mire yesterday smashed his maiden one-day century to take Zimbabwe to a historic six-wicket win over Sri Lanka and pile pressure on the beleaguered Asian nation.
Mire hit 112 off 96 balls as Zimbabwe reached 322-4 to pass Sri Lanka’s 316-5 with more than two overs to spare.
It was the first time in more than 200 one-day internationals in Sri Lanka that a visiting team has scored more than 300 runs to get a victory.
Photo: AFP
Sri Lanka have been criticized by the nation’s sports minister for being overweight and unfit. Captain Angelo Mathews also laid into his players after the defeat.
“Having 315 on the board, I thought it was enough,” Mathews said. “Our bowling was poor and our fielding was pathetic. It was a good batting effort by them.”
Mire, known for his quick-fire hitting, was twice dropped as Sri Lanka virtually gave the game away.
Sikandar Raza hit an unbeaten 67 and Sean Williams 65 as Zimbabwe stunned the home side in the first one-day international to be held in Galle for 17 years.
The day did not start badly for the hosts.
Kusal Mendis blasted 86 off 80 balls as Sri Lanka plundered runs off the Zimbabwe attack on a slow pitch.
Upul Tharanga hit 79 and Danushka Gunathilaka 60 after Mathews won the toss and chose to bat.
From there, Zimbabwe, one of the minnows of world cricket, went off script.
Mire, who also bowled seven overs before coming out as opening batsman, hit 14 fours and his third-wicket stand of 161 with Williams put the African side well on the way to victory.
Raza claimed the winning runs with a six to compound the humiliation.
Raza praised Zimbabwe’s selectors for keeping faith with the squad.
“A lot of cricket behind us has helped us pull off this fantastic win,” Raza said. “I kept telling myself that this had to be for Solomon. For someone to play in this kind of heat after bowling his heart out, that was sensational. I wanted to do it for him.”
Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer said the win was a huge confidence-booster.
“To chase down a score like that, to post our first win here was amazing,” Cremer said.
Cremer called Mire “a real asset to the team, not just with the bat, but also with the ball. He’s lovely to watch.”
Zimbabwe still have four one-day internationals and a Test to face in Sri Lanka, who have faced increasing jibes over their performances.
“We just want to take it one game at a time,” Cremer said. “We can hopefully carry this confidence forward.”
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was