SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates, 8 April 2003 — Zimbabwe qualified for the Sharjah Cup final against Pakistan after pulling off a tense four-wicket win over Sri Lanka here yesterday.

The Africans shot out Sri Lanka for 193 and then rode on Grant Flower’s unbeaten 61 to survive anxious moments and secure victory with eight deliveries to spare.

Zimbabwe ended the league with two wins and now await Pakistan in Thursday’s final of the four-nation event.

Pakistan, who play Kenya in the last league match today, also have two wins. Sri Lanka finished with one victory while Kenya have lost both their matches so far.

Zimbabwe’s upset win over the World Cup semifinalists was set up by Andy Blignaut and captain Heath Streak, who grabbed three wickets each in the first session to bowl out Sri Lanka for a modest score.

Sri Lanka never settled down after captain Sanath Jayasuriya, who won the toss, lasted only two deliveries in his 300th one-dayer before being bowled by Streak.

This may have been Jayasuriya’s last match as captain since he has indicated he may step down for the upcoming home series against New Zealand later this month.

Kumar Sangakkara, who hit centuries in the first two matches, made 25 before he was dismissed by left-arm spinner Raymond Price. Hashan Tillekeratne topscored with 31 as Avishka Gunawardena (24), Marvan Atapattu (29) and Kaushal Lokuarchchi (28) failed to build on good starts.

Dion Ebrahim led Zimbabwe’s spirited display in the field with two splendid catches to dismiss Gunawardena and Lokuarchchi.

Zimbabwe also got off to a poor start as Craig Wishart left alone an inswinger from Prabath Nissanka and was bowled for 14 to make it 36-1.

Douglas Marillier cracked 32 off 38 balls and Gavin Rennie made 26, before both batsmen fell to spinners as Zimbabwe reached 103-3 by the half-way stage of the innings.

Jayasuriya rotated his four spinners, led by Muttiah Muralitharan, in a bid to break the rest of the batting, but Flower and Tatenda Taibu held firm.

The pair put on 55 for the fourth wicket when Taibu was caught behind off Kumara Dharmasena for 31. Zimbabwe lost three wickets for nine runs as Lokuarchchi got rid of Sean Ervine and Dion Ebrahim, but Flower secured the remaining runs in the company of Streak, who made 19 not out.

“We just did not have enough runs on the board to put pressure on Zimbabwe,” Jayasuriya said.

Malhotra to Coach India

in Dhaka Tournament

In New Delhi, former Test batsman Ashok Malhotra will coach India in the early games of the one-day tri-series starting in Dhaka on Friday.

Malhotra will do the job until John Wright, in New Zealand following his father’s death, returns to take over, according to Karunakaran Nair, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The BCCI had earlier said Wright would miss the whole April 11-20 tournament, in which South Africa and hosts Bangladesh are also taking part. Nair denied media reports that captain Saurav Ganguly may not travel to Dhaka because of a back strain.

“He has not told us anything,” he said. “He will be leading the team.”

India, who lost to Australia in last month’s World Cup final, will be without batsmen Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and seamer Ashish Nehra due to injuries, while fast bowler Javagal Srinath and leg-spinner Anil Kumble have opted out of the trip.