Player of the Match
Player of the Match
3084dThe Report by Sirish Raghavan

Mendis, Tharanga steer Sri Lanka to title

Sri Lanka rode on fifties from Kusal Mendis and Upul Tharanga and a good all-round showing in the field to romp home to a convincing six-wicket win over Zimbabwe

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

WU Tharanga
WU Tharanga
57(98) 6x4 - 1x6
Control %82%
  • Productive Shot
  • cut shot
  • 12 runs
  • 1x4 - 0x6
1 1 6 7 11 15 3 13
BKG Mendis
BKG Mendis
57(72) 10x4 - 0x6
Control %86%
  • Productive Shot
  • cover drive
  • 18 runs
  • 4x4 - 0x6
5 0 14 0 21 10 0 7

Best performances - Bowlers

DAS Gunaratne
DAS Gunaratne
O4.3
M0
R10
W3
Eco2.22
RHB
OFFLEG
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
1W
1W
JDF Vandersay
JDF Vandersay
O10
M0
R50
W3
Eco5
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Match Details

Toss

Zimbabwe , elected to bat first

Player Of The Match

Player Of The Series

Series result

Sri Lanka won the 2016/17 Zimbabwe Tri-Nation Series

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

09.30 start, First Session 9.30-13.00, Interval 13.00-13.45, Second Session 13.45-17.15

Match days

27 November 2016 (50-over match)

TV Umpires

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Commentator: Akshay Gopalakrishnan

That brings an end to our coverage of this tri-series. It has been a fascinating one that has seen every result possible and at the end of it all, Sri Lanka have been crowned deserving winners. We hope you enjoyed our coverage of this match and the series; I have certainly enjoyed bringing it to all of you. Plenty of cricket to look forward to, though, with two interesting Test matches happening between India and England, and New Zealand and Pakistan, so tune in then. Until next time then.

The last two times a batsman scored a fifty with strike rate of under 60 in a tournament final: Tharanga today and Tharanga against Australia in 2012.

Samson: "Zim and SL players looks very friendly to each other. No sledging nothing. way to play cricket"

Qaaid: "More than anything, the spirit in which the teams played with was refreshing to see"

Upul Tharanga: "I think it's a really happy moment. Full credit to the guys, they have done a really great job over the last two weeks. We knew we had to only get one good partnership. Mendis batted very well, and from there, it got easier and easier. Everybody has done a great job, we have found some new players as well who have put their hands up and performed well. Thanks to the support staff as well, they have done a good job. South Africa will be a tough series and we have to work hard."

Mendis: "Yeah, very happy. Pitch was good and good bowling from my team, we are very happy. I enjoyed my time here."

Kusal Mendis is the Man of the Match and the Man of the series.

Graeme Cremer: "Definitely, to get to a final is always nice, but a bit disappointing today. We didn't think our day would end like this. It was a bit difficult to bat this morning and we lost quite a few wickets together. We've been watching him (Brian Vitori) in the nets. He just came in and got wickets upfront. For sure, we have got together in short space of time. The team spirit is up. The guys are hungry to perform and hungry to succeed and we can't ask for anything more form them."

Full marks to Sri Lanka for a clinical performance. Their bowlers did well and were helped by some poor shot selection from Zimbabwe's batsmen. Sri Lanka began the chase in puzzling fashion, going after everything and losing three quick wickets. But a more sedate approach after the interval eased down matters. Upul Tharanga struggled for the most part and ended up with an unconvincing, scratchy knock. But full credit to him for willing to grind it out and staying till the end. Of course, nothing unconvincing about the last few shots. We will have the presentations shortly.

37.3
6
Sikandar Raza to Tharanga, SIX, and a clean, straight six to seal the game and the title. Comes down the track to meet the pitch of the ball before lofting it straight over the bowler's head for a clean six
37.2
4
Sikandar Raza to Tharanga, FOUR, fuller ball on the stumps, Tharanga flays it through midwicket for his half-century. Seems to be in a hurry now to finish it. That's also his half-century
37.1
0
Sikandar Raza to Tharanga, no run, comes down the track but the bowler does well to adjust his length, Tharanga blocks

END OF OVER:
37 | 5 Runs | SL: 156/4 (5 runs required from 13 overs, RR: 4.21, RRR: 0.38)

  • Upul Tharanga47 (95b)
  • Asela Gunaratne16 (25b)
  • Tendai Chisoro8-0-31-0
  • Sikandar Raza2-0-3-0
36.6
1
Chisoro to Tharanga, 1 run, another lofted stroke and over the mid-on region again. Does not time it too well and does not get hold of it but it beats the man there nonetheless. The ball does not carry all the way to the boundary
36.5
4
Chisoro to Tharanga, FOUR, some intent from Tharanga. Makes use of the feet and comes to the pitch of the ball. Lifts it just to the left of the man at mid-on who makes a good effort and dives. But he times and places it well
36.4
0
Chisoro to Tharanga, no run, goes for a slog sweep and gets hit on the pad. Impact outside off

Sri Lanka 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st1MDKJ PereraDM de Silva
2nd28MDKJ PereraN Dickwella
3rd13MDKJ PereraBKG Mendis
4th75WU TharangaBKG Mendis
5th49WU TharangaDAS Gunaratne