The Visiting Sri Lankan bowlers managed to outsmart the Zimbabwe batting on day 4 picking 7 wickets to end day 4 in a commanding position.
Sri Lanka requires 3 wickets on day 5 with 90 overs in hand on the final day as they look to whitewash the hosts and wrap up the series.
Resuming from an overnight score of 102/4, Dimuth Karunarathne and Asela Gunaratne survived the first hour with ease and went on to add 69 runs to their partnership.
Asela Gunaratne was the one and only batsman to be dismissed in the first session as he was trapped plumb in front by Donald Tiripano for a patient 39 off 92 balls.
From then on it was one way traffic in the first session as Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Perera took the visitors safely to lunch with the score reading 177 for the loss of 5 wickets.
Sri Lanka resumed the second session at 177/5 and went on to make 258 for 9 before declaring and setting a target of 491 for the hosts Zimbabwe.
Dimuth Karunaratne was unfortunately dismissed for 88 as he was looking to go on to make a hard fought century while Kusal Perera was the other batsman to make an impact on the Lankan score as he made a quick 62 of 69 balls. Sri Lanka declared their innings as Kusal Perera was dismissed for the 9th wicket.
Starting their chase of 491, Zimbabwe was given a life line as opening batsman Tino Mawoyo was struck plumb in front but was not given out by the umpire on the field. In further replays it was revealed that the ball had missed the bat and was heading towards the stumps. Due to not referring the decision to the third umpire Sri Lanka missed an opportunity for an early wicket.
Overs after that incident Captain Rangana Herath stepped up and took control of the situation as he was able to dismiss Brian Chari off a peach of a delivery to clean bowl the opener through the gate for just 8 runs.
Two overs later Herath trapped Hamilton Masakadza in front as the number three batsman was LBW for 11 runs in 13 balls to end the second session of day 4.
Following the tea break Zimbabwe added just 6 runs before Captain Rangana Herath picked his and his team’s third wicket as the Tino Mawoyo’s luck ran out this time around to be caught at slip by Dhananjaya De Silva. The slipsman dived forward and took a good low catch to send Mawoyo packing and add to Zimbabwe’s misery.
Following Tino Mowoyo’s dismissal, Sean Williams and Craig Ervine put up some sort of resistance with a good fighting 74 run partnership. Sri Lanka had the chance to dismiss Williams off the bowling of Lahiru Kumara but a misjudgement at fine leg by 12th Man Lakshan Sandakan meant the chance went begging.
Lahiru Kumara was rewarded for good bowling as luck ran out for Sean Williams as he was caught at first slip by Dhananjaya De Silva in Kumara’s very next over for a well made 45 off 47 balls.
As the saying goes, one wicket brings along another, Dhananjaya De Silva this time with the ball managed to dismiss new batsman Malcom Waller as he was caught behind. A confident appeal was turned down by the standing umpire but a review saw the decision overturned as Waller was given out for a golden duck.
Rangana Herath came back into the attack with 7 overs to go in the day. Herath picked up the 6th Zimbabwe wicket as Peter Moor was caught by Kusal Mendis at silly point. Moor managed 20 runs off 30 balls. Incidentally this was Rangana Herath’s 50th wicket of the 2016 calendar year.
The day drew to a close as Rangana Herath managed to pick his 5th wicket as he castled the opposition Captain Graeme Cremer for 5 runs. Craig Ervine was a lone fighter as he was unbeaten on 65 for Zimbabwe.
