Graeme Cremer led from the front on day 2 of the only Test between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe picking up 3/100 as the hosts finished day 2 on 293/7, 63 runs behind Zimbabwe’s 1st innings total of 356.
At the end of the first session it looked like Zimbabwe had a tough day ahead of them but Cremer, with help from Sean Williams and Donald Tiripano, managed to chip away at the Sri Lankan line-up to leave the hosts in trouble at the end of the 2nd day. The trio managed 5 wickets between them and Cremer in particular was impressive as he ripped the ball away from the right-handers, beating the bat on numerous occasions.
He was rewarded when he dismissed both Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal in similar fashion as he drifted the ball in towards the stumps and spun it just enough to take the edge on the way to the waiting gloves of Regis Chakabva.
Having made 77/0 at lunch, Sri Lanka would have expected to get much closer to the visitor’s total by the end of the day’s play, but a mini-collapse in the post-lunch session, where they lost 107/3 and another in the final session of the day where they lost a further 4 wickets for 91 runs put their plans in check.
The innings began well with Upul Tharanga looking steady at the crease alongside Dimuth Karunaratne. The wickets of Karunaratne and Mendis caused a stutter but perhaps the most important wicket of the day was that of Tharanga. Dinesh Chandimal drove a seemingly innocuous Tiripano delivery straight but the ball ricocheted off the bowler’s hand and crashed into the stumps. Replays showed that Tharanga had his bat in his right hand while standing to the right of the wicket, meaning that he was forced to try and get his foot into the crease instead of his bat. He couldn’t make it in time and was forced to go.
From that point the run-rate too dropped as Angelo Mathews and Chandimal looked to rebuild. They were doing a good job of it too as Chandimal moved to his 12th Test fifty while the pair put on 96 for the 4th wicket, before the skipper was dismissed by his opposite number.
Chandimal’s dismissal saw the arrival of Niroshan Dickwella, seemingly as a move to counter the spin of Cremer. He did not last long however and Sri Lanka fell into deeper trouble at 226/5. To the surprise of many, Dilruwan Perera walked in next. It was later learned that Asela Gunaratne has sustained an injury to his left hamstring but would come in next.
It turned out to Sri Lanka’s advantage as Dilruwan stroked a fluent 33 which included 2 4s and 2 6s. Mathews went and soon Dilruwan was heading back to the pavilion as well, after being involved in a mix-up with Gunaratne.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka had required just 4.4 overs to wrap up the Zimbabwean’s innings as the ever reliable Rangana Herath picked up his 30th Test 5 wicket haul. The veteran would be required to add some value with the bat as well if Sri Lanka are to get anywhere close to the Zimbabwean total.
