HARARE, May 4: Zimbabwe 'A' forced a draw in their three-day tour match against Sri Lanka on Monday, bolstered by dogged innings from Trevor Gripper and Prosper Utseya. Zimbabwe 'A' were 306 for eight in their second innings when the captains shook hands on the draw. The home side were dismissed for 294 in their first innings, to which Sri Lanka replied with 461.

Gripper scored 97 while Utseya made 89, and together they shared 193 runs for the second wicket in a partnership that began on Sunday when Zimbabwe 'A' slipped to 17 for one.

The more patient Gripper was at the crease for four hours in which he faced 168 balls and hit 16 fours, while Utseya batted for three hours, faced 148 deliveries and hit eight fours and three sixes.

Leg-spinner Upul Chandana trapped Utseya in front to end the partnership then bowled Gripper and finished with four for 80 from 19 overs. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's rebel cricketers have rejected their board's offer of mediation and will renew their boycott, one of the 15 rebels said on Tuesday.

"We're adamant that we've in effect had three weeks of mediation, and we believe arbitration is the only route," he said. "We're meeting at 1000 tomorrow (0800 GMT on Wednesday) to write what will hopefully be our final letter, to say we're rejecting this. "We're back to square one, we are boycotting again."

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