Zimbabwe did taste early success but Gunaratne-Dickwella stand kept Sri Lanka calm in the stiff chase. (Source: AP)
Set a record 388-run target for win, Sri Lanka remained calm under pressure to beat Zimbabwe by four wickets in the one-off Test in Colombo on Tuesday. Dickwella and Gunaratne, after the hosts lost two early on the final day, had a brilliant stand which put the chase on track and left very little for the batsmen to follow. Dickwella fell short of a well-deserved hundred but Gunaratne stayed there right till the end and saw his side through. For Zimbabwe, Cremer was pick of the bowlers for his four wickets but the leggie didn’t get enough support from the other end. 382 was the previous best chase in Sri Lanka in a Test match, and it was clearly a very special effort with the bat by the hosts. The ODI series loss did deflate them and this is the kind of result they would have wanted ahead of an important home series against India. It begins in little over a week and the hosts seem well-tuned for Virat Kohli and Co. Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe, One off Test, Day 5: As it happened in Colombo
TEAMS:
Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal (capt.), Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Dilruwan Perera, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara.
Zimbabwe: Regis Chakabva, Hamilton Masakadza, Tarisai Musakanda, Craig Ervine, Sean Williams, Sikander Raza, Malcolm Waller, Peter Moor (wk), Graeme Cremer (capt.), Chris Mpofu, Donald Tiripano.
