Player of the Match
Player of the Match
2479dThe Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando

Raza stars in historic series win

Zimbabwe bowled with venom, fielded with pep and batted with intelligence to win the deciding fifth ODI in Hambantota and stun Sri Lanka 3-2 for their first away series win since 2009

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

H Masakadza
H Masakadza
73(86) 9x4 - 1x6
Control %80%
  • Productive Shot
  • off drive
  • 20 runs
  • 2x4 - 1x6
0 5 4 6 11 20 16 11
DAS Gunaratne
DAS Gunaratne
59(81) 4x4 - 0x6
Control %84%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 14 runs
  • 0x4 - 0x6
9 1 6 12 7 4 1 19

Best performances - Bowlers

A Dananjaya
O10
M1
R47
W4
Eco4.70
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
2W
Sikandar Raza
Sikandar Raza
O10
M1
R21
W3
Eco2.10
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Match Details

Toss

Zimbabwe , elected to field first

Player Of The Match

Player Of The Series

Series result

Zimbabwe won the 5-match series 3-2

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

09.45 start, First Session 09.45-13.15, Interval 13.15-14.00, Second Session 14.00-17.30

Match days

10 July 2017 (50-over match)

TV Umpires

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Scorer: Binoy George | Commentator: Shashank Kishore

Thanks a lot for joining us. The series isn't over. We've got a Test match starting on July 14. So not much of a break for both teams. That will be played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Do join us for that. Until then, it's goodbye from all of us here. Do stay connected with our ongoing coverage of the Women's World Cup.

Graeme Cremer: It was a bit.....I don't know how to put it. I was pressure, but we needed just one small partnership to get over the line. Happy that Sikandar came to the party. It turned around very quickly but happy we pulled it off in the end. We knew they were expecting seam on both ends. Raza is a definite weapon with the new ball. I was hoping for a breakthrough or two and he gave us that in the Powerplay. I usually always call heads, decided to change today and it worked out well. This win is very special, fans must be jumping around back home. We knew we're playing good enough cricket to put them under pressure.

Angelo Mathews: We've been outplayed in all departments. Credit to Zimbabwe, they gave us a really tough time and we didn't have any answers. Even though conditions were tough to bat on, 200 was way below what we expected. They have a good batting line-up so 203 was not enough. All the bowlers bowled pretty well, but 203 wasn't enough. The way the openers batted right throughout - unfortunately they couldn't do it today.

Hamilton Masakadza is the Player of the series. I was a little bit of pressure coming in the series. The selectors backed me and gave me another shot. I've worked on a lot of plans with the batting coach and it's paid off. We wanted to have a look first up. That's how Solo has a look, he always has a go. Worked on the sweep quite a lot before coming here.

Sikandar Raza is the Player of the Match To win the series with the bunch of boys we've had, I can't be happier. Skipper asked me in the morning and I said I'd like to bowl the first over. He trusted me and it paid off. I'm so happy it worked out for the team.

5.05pm Sikandar Raza gets a big bear hug from his mates. This is a historic series win, Zimbabwe's first-ever against Sri Lanka. He played a key role with the ball earlier in the day. Then saw his top order blast their way through. For a long time, it didn't look like he'd be needed with the bat but when he finally got out to bat, Zimbabwe were staring at defeat. He allayed nerves of a meltdown with a sensible approach, negotiated Malinga superbly and wasn't afraid to take on the spinners.

For large parts of their chase, Zimbabwe made this look a cakewalk. The way the top order negotiated spin on a turner resonated their approach right through the series: positive. Then came a meltdown - they lost four for 28 - to make it a full-blown collapse. Suddenly nerves started to jangle but Raza wasn't going to give it away, was he? So after gunning down the first-ever successful chase of 300 plus in Galle, Zimbabwe have clinched a historic series win.

Solomon Mire: Spectacular win! It's a happy moment for a lot of Zimbabweans around the world. I haven't played here before, it was a new experience for me and I'll take a lot of confidence out of this tour. It's been amazing.

Lance Klusener, the batting coach: Pleased for the boys. We've come a long way in the last six months. Credit to them for embracing Sri Lanka, it's a tough place so to win is a wonderful feeling. We're really going to enjoy this and then we'll move on to the Test match. We have to reap the rewards for the effort so we'll celebrate hard tonight.

38.1
6
PW Hasaranga to Sikandar Raza, SIX, that's the end of that. They've done it. Zimbabwe have won the series. The celebrations tell you a story. Raza saw this tossed up over his eyeline and couldn't hold back as he stepped out and lofted this over the bowler's head. Long-off was under that but the ball kept swirling away. Raza was hitting it with the breeze so it just about sailed over the ropes even though he didn't middle it. Zimbabwe's first away series win since 2009. What a moment. Such a thin line that between a wicket and a six. What a game we've had

END OF OVER:
38 | 8 Runs | ZIM: 198/7 (6 runs required from 12 overs, RR: 5.21, RRR: 0.50)

  • Sikandar Raza21 (26b)
  • Graeme Cremer11 (13b)
  • Lasith Malinga10-0-44-2
  • Asela Gunaratne4-0-23-1
37.6
1
Malinga to Sikandar Raza, 1 run, gets this to reverse late, works the full delivery to square leg

Zoraiz: "This game has a lots of similarities to the Pakistan vs Sri Lanka encounter at this year's CT. PAK won the toss and chose to field and SL stuttered in the middle overs before Asela managed to salvage a below par total. Then Pakistan got off to a flyer before a collapse got them on the brink if defeat. But then the unbeaten 8th wicket partnership saw them home. " No one did a Thisara though, at least not yet.

37.5
1
Malinga to Cremer, 1 run, once again bunts this into the gap between point and square third ma
37.4
2
Malinga to Cremer, 2 runs, full toss on the pads, flicked into the gap at deep midwicket. Target into single-digits now
37.3
2
Malinga to Cremer, 2 runs, full and wide outside off, he opens the face of the bat to squeeze that towards square third man.
37.2
1
Malinga to Sikandar Raza, 1 run, steers this into the gap between cover and point

Five more deliveries of Malinga to negotiate. This is getting tense

Zimbabwe 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st92H MasakadzaSF Mire
2nd45H MasakadzaTK Musakanda
3rd11CR ErvineTK Musakanda
4th4SC WilliamsTK Musakanda
5th13Sikandar RazaTK Musakanda
6th7MN WallerSikandar Raza
7th3Sikandar RazaPJ Moor
8th29AG CremerSikandar Raza