Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Thisara Perera took four wickets and hammered an unbeaten 39 as Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by five wickets to stay alive in the ODI tri-series.

Sri Lanka’s victory also snapped their three-game losing streak to Zimbabwe.

Electing to bat first, Zimbabwe made a solid start to their innings before Hamilton Masakadza was caught by Upul Thranga at short midwicket off the bowling of Thisara for 20.

Craig Ervine only made two runs, while Solomon Mire, who opened the batting with Masakadza, scored 21 runs before he was caught behind off the bowling of Thisara.

Things went from bad to worse for Zimbabwe when Sikandar Raza was dismissed by Lakshan Sandakan for nine runs.

Brendan Taylor and Malcolm Waller stemmed the flow of wickets with a 66-run partnership before Waller was caught behind off the bowling of Sandakan for 24.

Peter Moor fell shortly after, while Taylor went on to make 58 off 80 balls, which included six boundaries, before he became Thisara’s fourth victim.

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Once Taylor was gone, Nuwan Pradeep ripped through the tailenders to bowl Zimbabwe out for 198.

Thisara was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, while Pradeep snapped up three and Sandakan chipped in with two.

Chasing 199 to win, Sri Lanka did not get off to the best of starts as opener Upul Tharanga was clean bowled by Tendai Chatara for 17.

Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis made up for the loss of Tharanga with a 70-run partnership before Kusal Perera was dismissed by Blessing Muzarabani for 49.

Kusal Mendis went on to make 36 before being cleaned up by Muzarabani, who removed Niroshan Dickwella in his next over.

Asela Gunaratne could not get going as he was sent packing by Kyle Jarvis for nine runs.

However, that was to be Zimbabwe’s last taste of success for the rest of the match as Thisara and stand-in captain Dinesh Chandimal finished things off with an unbeaten 57-run partnership.

Thisara ended up making 39 off 26 balls, which included a boundary and three sixes, while Chandimal remained undefeated on 38 off 71 deliveries, which included two boundaries.

Muzarabani was the most successful bowler with three wickets, while Chatara and Jarvis claimed one wicket each.

Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer was disappointed to have lost, and said: “To be honest, the wicket looked same like the other one, but played a lot different. We were probably 30 runs short with the bat. We need one of the top four to bat through the innings.

“Taylor played well, but we need one to bat till 45 overs. The seamers did quite well; maybe a bit inconsistent with the length. Credit to Chandi, they were always looking like winning with him there. We will come out hard day after tomorrow.”

Chandimal was pleased to have finally won, and said: “I was really happy with the performance. Credit to the bowlers – they did their job really well. Kusal Perera and Mendis did their job, and Thisara at the end was brilliant. As I said, once you get a start in the top four you need to bat long. That’s what we need to do, and we will have three more days to come up with a good plan. Pressure is always there. Last year or so they’ve played outstanding cricket.”

Thisara was named Man of the Match, and said: “First of all I am proud of my performance. As an all-rounder, I am very happy today. All the bowlers, including me, did well. This is a relay baton – we want to do it at both ends. Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal did well. Pradeep has an injury but he did well. This is my natural game, otherwise I can’t survive in the international game.”