HARARE, June 7 (PTI): Continuing their giant-killing spree, hosts Zimbabwe rode on Brendan Taylor�s second ODI ton to pull off a spectacular eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in an inconsequential match of the cricket tri-series here today.
With both the teams having already made it to the summit clash, today�s match was of merely academic interest but Zimbabwe proved that their back-to-back wins against India was no fluke as they upstaged Sri Lanka in the dress-rehearsal for Wednesday�s final.
Put into bat, Sri Lanka got off to a flier, courtesy the 122-run stand between captain Tillakaratne Dilshan (78) and Upul Tharanga (69) but the Zimbabwe bowlers showed tremendous resilience to eventually bowl out the visitors for a modest 236 in 47.5 overs at the Harare Sports Club.
And with Taylor (119 not out) extending his sensational form in the tournament, Zimbabwe cruised to 240 for two in 47.5 overs to clinch the match.
Taylor got good support from Chamu Chibhaba (58) with whom he shared 134 runs for the second wicket and then completed the chase in Tatenda Taibu�s (42 not out) company with the duo putting on an unbeaten 92-run stand.
Earlier, Sri Lanka could not make the most of a flying start and folded for 236 inside 48 overs.
SCORECARD
Sri Lanka: Tharanga c Coventry b Cremer 69, Dilshan st Taibu b Utseya 78, Chandimal c Masakadza b Utseya 6, Kapugedera c & b Masakadza 12, Samaraweera run out 16, Mendis c Taylor b Cremer 7, Thirimanne c Taylor b Mpofu 15, Perera b Mpofu 8, Randiv not out 9, Thushara c Taylor b Price 7, Fernando run out 0. Extras: (LB-4, W-5) 9. Total: (all out in 47.5 overs) 236. Fall of wickets: 1-122, 2-134, 3-155, 4-181, 5-192, 6-199, 7-218, 8-219, 9-235, 10-236. Bowling: Mpofu 9-1-32-2, Chigumbura 4-0-32-0, Chibhabha 4-0-40-0, Price 9.5-1-42-1, Utseya 10-0-41-2, Cremer 8-0-33-2, Masakadza 3-0-12-1.
Zimbabwe: Masakadza c Chandimal b Thushara 3, Taylor not out 119, Chibhabha lbw b Dilshan 58, Taibu not out 42. Extras: (LB-6, W-11, NB-1) 18. Total: (for 2 wickets in 47.5 overs) 240. Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-148. Bowling: Thushara 9.5-1-50-1, Fernando 9-0-37-0, Perera 2-0-24-0, Randiv 9-0-38-0, Jeevan Mendis 8-0-42-0, Dilshan 8-0-35-1, Kapugedera 2-0-8-0.
