HARARE, 28 April 2004 — The demoralized Zimbawean one day side failed to muster much resistance against a virtually second string Sri Lankan outfit here yesterday going down by 72 runs in their fourth One-Day International.
The hosts could make only 151 in their reply — Dion Ebrahim at last finding some form with an unbeaten 50 — to Sri Lanka’s 223-9 as they went 4-0 down in the five match series.
The only slight consolation was there was no repeat of their world record lowest score of 35 they mustered on Sunday.
However it was against an attack shorn of their three frontline bowlers Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Nuwan Zoysa while explosive openers Sanath Jayasuriya and captain Marvan Atappattu were also left out.
Sri Lanka’s man-of-the-match Kumar Sangakkara scored a patient 63 — his 11th half century — in 100 balls to give Sri Lanka a good foundation as wickets fell around him.
On the whole though Sri Lanka, who were pegged down to 4.5 an over by the young Zimbabwe side, didn’t find it easy to score on a slow-paced pitch and against tidy medium pace bowling.
Sangakkara had an outstanding match as he went on to take three catches and make a quite brilliant stumping off Upul Chandana. Not content with this, he pulled off a run-out.
Chandana also had a day to remember as he struck 51 runs in 56 balls just when Sri Lanka needed to push on and when Zimbabwe batted he took two wickets and executed a run-out of his own.
Zimbabwean debutant Tawanda Mpariwa, who had been 12th man in the previous three matches, took two wickets in a fine spell, ran out Russel Arnold and hit a six before being run out himself.
Sri Lanka may restore some of their stars for the final match tomorrow as they could face several of the white players, who have boycotted the series over the sacking of skipper Heath Streak and other selectorial matters.
Under an agreement reached with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, representatives of the 15 rebels went to arbitration yesterday to try and resolve differences.
Under the agreement to submit to an independent body, the dissenting players are scheduled to practice today and make themselves available for selection.
