Sri Lanka win by five wickets against Zimbabwe

Thisara Perera's all-round performances hand Sri Lanka an important win in the tri-nations series match against Zimbabwe.

The all rounder grabbed four wickets before scoring a quickfire 26-ball 39 as Sri Lanka landed their first victory in the tri-nation series after earlier defeats to Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Following Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis's 70-run second-wicket partnership, it looked like victory was close at hand for the Lankans.

Blessing Muzarabai however came in the middle overs and grabbed three crucial wickets to bring Zimbabwe back into contention after he removed Perera (49) and Mendis (36) in quick succession before taking the wicket of Niroshan Dickwella in the 26th over. Sri Lanka lost their fifth wicket for 145 runs in the 35th over but Dinesh Chandimal, who scored 38 off 71 balls along with Thisara Perera got Lankans to victory without losing any more wickets and with 5.1 overs to spare.

Earlier, Sri Lanka's medium pacers restricted Zimbabwe to 198 in their third match of the tri-nation tournament.

Thisara Perera and Nuwan Pradeep dominated at the SNBCS as they bagged four and three wickets respectively.

Brendon Taylor top-scored with a 80-ball 58 while captain Graeme Cremer struck 34. Zimbabwe were off to a soild start again but were undone by Thisara Perera, who removed the in-form batsman Masakadza for 20 runs. The 66-run partnership between Taylor and Malcolm Waller allowed Zimbabwe to recover after they were 73 for four inside 17 overs, losing their most important batsmen Sikander Raza. Once Taylor was removed by Thisan Perera, the Zimbabwe innings folded inside 44 overs.

Teams:

Sri Lanka: Kusal Perera, Upul Tharanga, Kusal Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Dinesh Chandimal (capt.) Asela Gunaratne, Thisara Perera, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep

Zimbabwe: Hamilton Masakadza, Solomon Mire, Craig Ervine, Brendon Taylor (wk), Sikander Raza, Malcolm Waller, PJ Moor, Graeme Cremer (capt.), Kyle Jarvis, Tendai Chatara, Blessing Muzarabani.