Test Cricket returned to Zimbabwe after more than 2 years as the home team took on Sri Lanka in a 2-match series at the Harare Sports Club ground. The opening day of the first Test was all about Zimbabwean batsmen as they piled up 189 runs for the loss of just 2 wickets after winning the toss.
Playing an XI with 5 changes to the one which played a Test for the last time in 2018 in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe had handed 3 Test debuts to opener Kevin Kasuza, fast bowler Victor Nyauchi and spinner Ainsley Ndlovu.
Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka Test Series 2020 – Let’s Talk Numbers
Sri Lanka will meet Zimbabwe in a 2-match Test series, becoming the first country to play an international……
The inexperienced opening pair of Kasuza and returning batsman Prince Masvaure, who last played a Test in 2016, started cautiously seeing off the disciplined opening spell from the Lankans. Suranga Lakmal returning to the team after missing the Pakistan series due to illness started decently along with Kasun Rajitha. However, the stubborn resistance from the home batsmen gave away no chance to the tourists.
Sri Lanka’s lone spinner Lasith Embuldeniya who was picked ahead of experienced Dilruwan Perera had to be introduced early in the 10th over to try and break the solid-looking opening stand. Lahiru Kumara’s express pace too was well navigated by the two batsmen as they finished the first session for 62 for no loss after 27 overs.
Sri Lanka then came out with a plan to dry up the runs and executed it pretty well as they eventually ended dismissing Masvaure in the 51st over for 55 off a miscued shot. However, Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne fielding at mid-off caused himself a minor injury as he hung on to the half-chance created by Embuldeniya and was off the park temporarily.
Debutant Kasuza went on to reach a well-constructed half-century on debut in the final session with Craig Ervine on the other end trying to up the scoring rate. Ervine took on the spinners and all-rounder Dhananjaya De Silva in particular, as he added some life to the Zimbabwe innings.
Zimbabwe’s best batsman Brendan Taylor joined Ervine to end the day on a high following Kasuza’s dismissal for 63 off a fiery full toss off Kumara. Ervine unbeaten on 55 will resume Zimbabwe’s innings tomorrow along with Taylor as the tourists will be looking forward to better luck on day 2 after a less than ideal opening day.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Masvaure | c Dimuth Karunaratne b Lasith Embuldeniya | 55 | 149 | 7 | 0 | 36.91 |
| Kevin Kasuza | lbw b Lahiru Kumara | 63 | 214 | 5 | 1 | 29.44 |
| Craig Ervine | b Suranga Lakmal | 85 | 187 | 5 | 3 | 45.45 |
| Brendan Taylor | lbw b Suranga Lakmal | 21 | 47 | 1 | 1 | 44.68 |
| Sean Williams | c Niroshan Dickwella b Lasith Embuldeniya | 18 | 46 | 1 | 1 | 39.13 |
| Sikandar Raza | st Niroshan Dickwella b Lasith Embuldeniya | 41 | 65 | 6 | 0 | 63.08 |
| Regis Chakabva | c Angelo Mathews b Lasith Embuldeniya | 8 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 40.00 |
| Donald Tiripano | not out | 44 | 103 | 3 | 0 | 42.72 |
| Kyle Jarvis | b Lasith Embuldeniya | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Ainsley Ndlovu | c Kusal Mendis b Lahiru Kumara | 5 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Victor Nyauchi | c Lakshan Sandakan b Suranga Lakmal | 11 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 37.93 |
| Extras | 6 (b 0 , lb 4 , nb 2, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 358/10 (148 Overs, RR: 2.42) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-96 (50.1) Prince Masvaure, 2-164 (75.3) Kevin Kasuza, 3-208 (91.5) Brendan Taylor, 4-247 (106.3) Sean Williams, 5-247 (107.2) Craig Ervine, 6-266 (114.2) Regis Chakabva, 7-307 (128.4) Sikandar Raza, 8-309 (130.1) Kyle Jarvis, 9-328 (139.1) Ainsley Ndlovu, 10-358 (147.6) Victor Nyauchi, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suranga Lakmal | 27 | 10 | 53 | 3 | 1.96 | |
| Kasun Rajitha | 29 | 9 | 55 | 0 | 1.90 | |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | 42 | 12 | 114 | 5 | 2.71 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 29 | 8 | 82 | 2 | 2.83 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 21 | 8 | 50 | 0 | 2.38 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c Ainsley Ndlovu b Victor Nyauchi | 37 | 78 | 4 | 0 | 47.44 |
| Oshada Fernando | b Donald Tiripano | 21 | 41 | 2 | 0 | 51.22 |
| Kusal Mendis | c Brendan Taylor b Victor Nyauchi | 80 | 163 | 8 | 0 | 49.08 |
| Angelo Mathews | not out | 200 | 468 | 16 | 3 | 42.74 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | c & b Sean Williams | 12 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 37.50 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c Prince Masvaure b Victor Nyauchi | 63 | 112 | 7 | 0 | 56.25 |
| Niroshan Dickwella | lbw b Sikandar Raza | 63 | 120 | 3 | 0 | 52.50 |
| Suranga Lakmal | st Regis Chakabva b Sikandar Raza | 27 | 41 | 0 | 2 | 65.85 |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | b Sikandar Raza | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Kasun Rajitha | lbw b Sean Williams | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16.67 |
| Extras | 11 (b 2 , lb 5 , nb 4, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 515/9 (176.2 Overs, RR: 2.92) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-32 (11.1) Oshada Fernando, 2-92 (28.6) Dimuth Karunaratne, 3-184 (66.2) Kusal Mendis, 4-227 (81.4) Dinesh Chandimal, 5-325 (116.2) Dhananjaya de Silva, 6-461 (160.3) Niroshan Dickwella, 7-510 (173.4) Suranga Lakmal, 8-510 (173.5) Lasith Embuldeniya, 9-515 (176.2) Kasun Rajitha, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Jarvis | 37 | 12 | 84 | 0 | 2.27 | |
| Victor Nyauchi | 32 | 7 | 69 | 3 | 2.16 | |
| Donald Tiripano | 31 | 3 | 82 | 1 | 2.65 | |
| Ainsley Ndlovu | 28 | 3 | 107 | 0 | 3.82 | |
| Sean Williams | 32.2 | 3 | 104 | 2 | 3.23 | |
| Sikandar Raza | 16 | 0 | 62 | 3 | 3.88 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Masvaure | c Niroshan Dickwella b Suranga Lakmal | 17 | 58 | 2 | 0 | 29.31 |
| Brian Mudzinganyama | lbw b Suranga Lakmal | 16 | 62 | 2 | 0 | 25.81 |
| Craig Ervine | c Dimuth Karunaratne b Suranga Lakmal | 7 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 53.85 |
| Brendan Taylor | c Kusal Mendis b Suranga Lakmal | 38 | 58 | 5 | 1 | 65.52 |
| Sean Williams | c Niroshan Dickwella b Kasun Rajitha | 39 | 79 | 5 | 0 | 49.37 |
| Sikandar Raza | st Niroshan Dickwella b Lasith Embuldeniya | 17 | 55 | 1 | 0 | 30.91 |
| Regis Chakabva | b Lasith Embuldeniya | 26 | 142 | 1 | 0 | 18.31 |
| Donald Tiripano | lbw b Lahiru Kumara | 6 | 61 | 1 | 0 | 9.84 |
| Kyle Jarvis | b Lahiru Kumara | 1 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 6.67 |
| Ainsley Ndlovu | b Lahiru Kumara | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Victor Nyauchi | not out | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 3 (b 2 , lb 0 , nb 1, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 170/10 (92 Overs, RR: 1.85) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-33 (18.2) Prince Masvaure, 2-36 (20.3) Brian Mudzinganyama, 3-41 (22.3) Craig Ervine, 4-120 (44.3) Brendan Taylor, 5-120 (45.2) Sean Williams, 6-148 (62.1) Sikandar Raza, 7-159 (81.6) Donald Tiripano, 8-163 (85.6) Kyle Jarvis, 9-165 (89.4) Ainsley Ndlovu, 10-170 (91.6) Regis Chakabva, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suranga Lakmal | 20 | 8 | 27 | 4 | 1.35 | |
| Kasun Rajitha | 14 | 6 | 23 | 1 | 1.64 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 11 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 1.09 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 21 | 8 | 32 | 3 | 1.52 | |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | 26 | 8 | 74 | 2 | 2.85 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oshada Fernando | not out | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 80.00 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | not out | 10 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 76.92 |
| Extras | 0 (b 0 , lb 0 , nb 0, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 14/0 (3 Overs, RR: 4.67) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donald Tiripano | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 4.00 | |
| Victor Nyauchi | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6.00 | |
