PALLEKELE: Skipper Craig Ervine and an attacking Sika­ndar Raza set up a 22-run series-levelling win for Zimbabwe in the second One-day Inter­national against Sri Lanka here at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka hit a maiden ODI century but his 102 went in vain as Zimbabwe kept down the hosts to 280-9 and level the three-match series at 1-1.

Raza smashed 56 off 46 deliveries after Ervine’s 91 to guide Zimbabwe to 302 for eight while electing to bat first.

Ervine capitalised on a strong start in a 106-run third-wicket partnership with Sean Williams, who made 48.

Sri Lankan leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay took three wickets for 51 runs, but failed to stop Zimbabwe from surpassing their previous effort of 296 in the opening loss.

Openers Takudzwanashe Kaitano (26) and Regis Chakabva (47) hammered 59 runs inside 10 overs to lay a solid foundation.

Vandersay bowled Takudz­wanashe and then denied Chab­abva his fifty after getting the wicket-keeper/batsman stumped.

Ervine stood firm and rebuilt the innings with Williams and the pair soon took the attack to the opposition.

Vandersay broke the stand after getting the left-handed Williams stumped with a googly, with wicket-keeper Kusal Men­dis quick to whip the bails off.

Ervine completed his fifty in 56 balls but was nine short of a century after getting bowled by Maheesh Theekshana.

Raza, who smashed four fours and one six, kept up the charge in a 41-run partnership with Ryan Burl, who hit 19.

Zimbabwe fast bowlers Tendai Chatara and Blessing Muzarabani put Sri Lanka in trouble at 31-3 and finished with three wickets each.

Kamindu Mendis, who made 57, and Shanaka got together to rebuild the innings with a partnership of 118 for the fifth wicket.

Kamindu recorded his maiden ODI half-century with a boundary and the captain got past his fifty as well three balls later to frustrate the opposition bowlers.

Richard Ngarava broke the stand with Kamindu’s wicket after the batsman mistimed a shot to mid-on.

Shanaka kept up the attack to reach his hundred with a six off Chatara but got caught out at long off on the next ball and take back with him Sri Lanka’s hopes of victory.

The deciding match is on Friday at the same venue.

Scoreboard

ZIMBABWE:

T. Kaitano b Vandersay 26

R. Chakabva st Kusal b Vandersay 47

C. Ervine b Theekshana 91

S. Williams st Kusal b Vandersay 48

W. Madhevere b Karunaratne 1

S. Raza c Karunaratne b Pradeep 56

R. Burl run out (Chameera) 19

W. Mazakadza c Chameera b N Pradeep 0

B. Muzarabani not out 0

EXTRAS (B-3, LB-6, W-3, NB-2) 14

TOTAL (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 302

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-59 (Kaitano), 2-90 (Chakabva), 3-196 (Williams), 4-205 (Madhevere), 5-256 (Ervine), 6-297 (Burl), 7-298 (Masakadza), 8-302 (Raza).

DID NOT BAT: T. Chatara, R. Ngarava

BOWLING: Pradeep 10-0-74-2 (2nb), Chameera 9-0-47-0 (3w), Shanaka 2-0-14-0, Vandersay 9-0-51-3, Theekshana 10-0-49-1, Karunaratne 6-0-24-1, Kamindu 2-0-19-0, Asalanka 2-0-15-0.

SRI LANKA:

P. Nissanka c Chakabva b Muzarabani 16

Kusal Mendis b Chatara 7

Kamindu Mendis c Ervine b Ngarava 57

D. Chandimal c Raza b Muzarabani 2

C. Asalanka b Madhevere 23

D. Shanaka c Raza b Chatara 102

C. Karunaratne run out (Williams) 34

D. Chameera c Masakadza b Chatara 13

J. Vandersay c Chakabva b Muzarabani 4

M. Theekshana not out 4

N. Pradeep not out 5

EXTRAS (LB-5, NB-1, W-7) 13

TOTAL (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 280

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-19 (Kusal), 2-25 (Nissanka), 3-31 (Chandimal), 4-63 (Asalanka), 5-181 (Kamindu), 6-247 (Shanaka), 7-266 (Karunaratne), 8-268 (Chameera), 9-273 (Vandersay).

BOWLING: Chatara 10-1-52-3, Muzarabani 10-0-56-3 (w6, nb1), Madhevere 4-0-30-1, Ngarava 10-1-41-1 (w1), Masakadaza 8-0-34-0, Williams 6-0-48-0, Burl 2-0-14-0.

RESULT: Zimbabwe won by 22 runs.

SERIES: Three-match series level at 1-1.

UMPIRES: Kumar Dharmasena and Raveendra Wimalasiri (Both Sri Lanka).

TV UMPIRE: Lyndon Hannibal (Sri Lanka).

MATCH REFEREE: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2022