De Silva was named Man of the Match for his unbeaten knock of 78

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Dhananjaya de Silva made a career-best 78 not out to lead Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the opening game of the ODI tri-series in Harare. Sri Lanka’s victory was so convincing that they even secured a bonus point.

Choosing to bowl first, Sri Lanka were all over Zimbabwe right from the get-go as they ripped through their top and middle order to leave them reeling at 50/6.

With more than half their batting line-up back in the pavilion and only 50 runs on the board, the hosts were in desperate need of a partnership. Wicketkeeper Peter Moor and captain Graeme Cremer provided just that as they put together a 55-run stand to somewhat stem the bleeding.

Just as things were beginning to look brighter for Zimbabwe, Moor was trapped lbw off the bowling of Nuwan Kulasekara for 47. Things became more dreary from that point on as the lower order collapsed, which led to Zimbabwe being skittled out for 154. Cremer remained stranded on 31 not out.

Debutant Asela Gunaratne was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Kulasekara, Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal snapped up two wickets apiece. Sachith Pathirana, meanwhile, chipped in with one wicket.

Chasing 155 to win, Sri Lanka got off to a strong start as De Silva and Kusal Perera amassed a 56-run partnership before Perera was dismissed by Chamu Chibhabha for 21.

De Silva and wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella kept the runs flowing with an 84-run stand, during which De Silva brought up his half-century, before Dickwella was sent packing by Tinashe Panyangara for 41.

De Silva and Kusal Mendis went on to mop up the remaining runs and lead Sri Lanka to victory with 153 balls to spare.

De Silva finished on 78, which came off 75 balls and included 12 boundaries, while Mendis struck one boundary and a six during his unbeaten knock of 12.

Chibhabha and Panyangara claimed one wicket each.

Cremer was less than impressed with his side’s performance, and said: “In losing the toss, we knew it was going to be tough. Too many soft wickets. It was not a 150 wicket, if we could have grounded to 220, who knows? We have to come back better, we are better than this. The bowlers toiled hard.”

Sri Lanka stand-in captain Upul Tharanga was impressed with the convincing win, and said: “Good feeling. Everyone did really well. The bowlers stuck to the plan and bowled in the right areas. They knew the wicket will do something.”

De Silva was named Man of the Match, and said: “Low-scoring game so I wanted to attack in the first few overs. Gloomy conditions so the ball was moving around in the first few overs.”