In the second One-Day International of the three-match series in Colombo on Monday, middle-order batsman Janith Liyanage scored a brilliant century of runs, enabling Sri Lanka to defeat Zimbabwe by two wickets.
Sri Lanka struggled to chase down 209 in order to win, as additional bounce from left-arm seamer Richard Ngarava caused problems for the batters.
After taking four of the Sri Lankan wickets in the opening over, Ngarava got a fifth when he removed Maheesh Theekshana in the last over.
After Sri Lanka was down to 112, the resistance was ignited by a 56-run partnership between Theekshana and Liyanage for the seventh wicket.
After completing his ten overs, Ngarava concluded with five for 32, his career best numbers, and Sri Lanka began to breathe easier.
In an effort to maintain the necessary pace, Liyanage tried to clear mid-off, but he was removed five runs short of his century because he was unable to get the necessary height.
Because of his outstanding performance in domestic cricket, Liyanage was selected into the Sri Lankan team for this series.
With two sixes and six fours in 127 deliveries, he scored 95 runs. “I wanted get to the hundred but was disappointed,” he said.
With two wickets remaining, Sri Lanka needed 37 runs when Liyanage was removed.
With an uninterrupted partnership of 39 runs for the ninth wicket, Jeffrey Vandersay (19) and Dushmantha Chameera (18) successfully achieved the objective.
Rain stopped play during the Sri Lankan innings for nearly an hour, but the game went on without reducing the number of overs.
Ngarava was supported by spin spinner Sikandar Raza, who claimed two for 32 in his ten overs; nevertheless, the other bowlers did not provide significant assistance.
After winning the toss, Zimbabwe chose to bat, and captain Craig Ervine led the way with 82 runs.
Ervine was removed after a one-handed diving catch at extra cover by Sadeera Samarawickrama, and Zimbabwe quickly found themselves in difficulties.
After falling behind at 182 for 4, Zimbabwe was reduced to 209 all out, with the last six wickets costing 26 runs.
While Chameera and Ventersay both grabbed two wickets, Theekshana claimed four wickets.
Ervine was “proud” of his bowlers and described the match as “well fought.” “We have one more game and we need to look at squaring the series,” he said.
In the three-match series, Sri Lanka is up 1-0. The first game on Saturday was canceled due to severe weather, and this might happen again.
At the same location on Thursday is the final game.