PREVIEW: Can Zimbabwe make it 2 in 2?

‘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’Andrew Fidel Fernando, 10-Jul-2017.

words by By Lewin Zoe

I vividly remember on the 10th of July 2017; I was travelling from Mutare to Nyanga on a work assignment. Internet connectivity was intermittent on the road, and I could hardly get updates from the game (5^th ODI, Zimbabwe vs Sri-Lanka) for at least 5 good minutes. We got to the Fish Farm, few kilometres before Nyanga – there we found better connectivity I vehemently recall asking my workmate to park so that I could finish following the game.

On that day, the series was levelled at 2-2. Zimbabwe had won the 1^st ODI, lost the following 2 matches and won the 4^th game to level the series. The 5^th ODI was the series decider, the grand finale and Sri-Lanka had never lost an ODI series to Zimbabwe before, to make matters worse – at home. Zimbabwe managed to win the 5^th ODI by 3 wickets (with 71 balls remaining), thanks to Sikandar Raza heroics who was adjudged the man of the match to hand Zimbabwe their first ODI series win against Sri Lanka and their first in ODI’s since 2009 when they defeated Kenya in Harare.

From Hambantota 2017, to Pallekele 2022, 5 years later, both Sri-Lanka and Zimbabwe are in for a series decider which promises to be a very tight game with 10 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League points at stake. The series is currently 1-1 and both teams have so far grabbed 10 points each for their wins. Sri-Lanka have 52 points already and a win will make them climb to the 4^th position with 62 points above Australia. Zimbabwe climbed two positions after their series levelling win a fortnight ago and another win will take them to 45 points above South Africa and Pakistan, only 4 points behind India.

In this series, Zimbabwe have won the toss twice and opting to bat. In the 1^st ODI they failed to defend 296 and, in the 2nd, ODI they bowled well thought-out the innings and managed to win by 22 runs. Pallekele’s wicket promises to a high scoring one for the 3^rd ODI scheduled for tomorrow as time (11 am Zim time).

Zimbabwe will be looking forward to winning another toss and bat first for the 3^rd time this series. The target will be to put another 300+ total which can give Sri-Lanka batsmen some scoreboard pressure. The visitors are confident with their opening duo or Kaitano and Chakabva which is strongly backed by a very experience top and middle order batting line-up which includes the likes of Ervine, Williams, and Raza.

Chameera was quick, recording an average of 140 km/h during the 2^nd ODI which was his first of this series. He will be key in the powerplay which Sri Lanka have struggled to contain Zimbabwe. Captain Dusan Shanaka led from the from with the bat, scoring his maiden ODI 100 and he looks have the same response from his top order batters.

Probable XI

Zimbabwe: 1 Ryan Burl, 2 Sikander Raza, 3 Regis Chakabva (wk), 4 Tendai Chatara, 5 Craig Ervine (capt.), 6 Takudzwanashe Kaitano, 7 Milton Shumba, 8 Wellington Masakadze, 9 Blessing Muzarabani, 10 Richard Ngarava, 11 Sean Williams

Sri-Lanka: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Mendis (wk), 3 Kamindu Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt.), 7 Chamika Karunaratne, 8 Jeffrey Vandersay, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Dushmantha Chameera 11 Nuwan Pradeep