Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera took three wickets apiece to break Zimbabwe's resistance and secure a 225-run victory for Sri Lanka in the first Test at Harare Sports Club on Wednesday.

After declaring on their overnight total of 247 for six to set Zimbabwe 412 for victory on the final day, Sri Lanka were under threat of being held to a draw as Graeme Cremer once again proved to be the thorn in their side with his stubborn 43.

But Herath finished with figures of 3 for 38, which included the key wickets of Cremer and Sean Williams, and Perera took 3 for 34 as Zimbabwe were bowled out for 186 with just 7.3 overs left.

SCORES IN BRIEF

SRI LANKA: First innings 537

ZIMBABWE: First innings 373

SRI LANKA: Second innings 247 for 7 decl (Karunaratne 110, Mendis 19, De Silva 64; Mumba 4-50)

ZIMBABWE: Second innings 186 (Mawoyo 37, Masakadza 20, Williams 40,

Cremer 43; Lakmal 2-43, Herath 3-38,  Perera 3-34)

Result: Sri Lanka won by 225 runs and lead two-match series 1-0.

Player-of-the-match: Graeme Cremer.