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Sri Lanka lift tri-series title

By The Assam Tribune

HARARE, June 9 (PTI): Tillakaratne Dilshan led from the front with an unbeaten century as Sri Lanka lifted the ODI cricket tri-series title, halting Zimbabwe�s fairytale run in a lop-sided final here today.

Dilshan struck an unbeaten 108 off 102 balls and featured in an 160-run opening stand with Upul Tharanga (72) to script a facile nine-wicket victory that also avenged Sri Lanka�s eight-wicket defeat against the hosts on Monday.

Put into bat, Zimbabwe had earlier managed a below-par 199, courtesy Tatenda Taibu�s defiant 71, before they collapsed in 49 overs at the Harare Sports Club.

The Lankans completed the modest chase with minimum fuss, cruising to 203 for one to complete a comprehensive win with 15.2 overs to spare.

Their chase got off to a flier with Dilshan wasting precious little time in imposing himself.

He made his intention clear when he sent the the first ball he faced, from Chris Mpofu, for a four and the otherwise disciplined Zimbabwean attack failed to stem the regular flow of boundaries from Dilshan�s blade.

Tharanga also helped himself to the occasional boundaries before hitting Prosper Utseya over his head for a six. He eventually ran himself out in the 26th over but by then, Sri Lanka had the match in the bag.

Earlier, Taibu�s spirited 71-run knock guided Zimbabwe to 199 before the hosts folded up.

Taibu top-scored with a 93-ball knock in an otherwise ordinary performance by the African minnows, who came into the match after stunning wins over India and Sri Lanka in the round-robin stage.

The Zimbabweans started slowly and the pace of their scoring didn�t pick up through the innings.

SCORECARD

Zimbabwe: Masakadza c Chandimal b Kulasekara 4, Taibu c Kapugedera b Fernando 71, Ervine run out 9, Lamb b Mendis 37, Chigumbura c Dilshan b B Mendis 10, Coventry c Tharanga b Mendis 18, Cremer b Fernando 5, Utseya not out 10, Price c Dilshan b B Mendis 0, Mpofu run out 6. Extras: (lb 2, w 8) 10. Total: (all out; 49 overs) 199. Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-29, 3-49, 4-139, 5-155, 6-163, 7-178, 8-189, 9-190, 10-199. Bowling: Kulasekara 7-2-17-1, Fernando 9-0-36-3, B Mendis 10-1-44-2, Mathews 4-0-14-0, Randiv 8-0-36-0, Mendis 9-0-36-2, Dilshan 2-0-14-0.

Sri Lanka : Upul Tharanga run out 72, Tillakaratne Dilshan not out 108, Dinesh Chandimal not out 16. Extras: (LB-2, W-5) 7. Total: (For 1 wicket in 34.4 overs) 203. Fall of wickets: 1-160. Bowling: Mpofu 5-0-36-0; Chigumbura 5-0-28-0; Price 7-0-34-0; Lamb 6-0-24-0; Cremer 4.4-0-27-0; Utseya 6-0-44-0; Masakadza 1-0-8-0.

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