Close Sri Lanka 272-7 (Gunawardene 90, Jayawardene 96) beat Zimbabwe 213 (G Flower 45, Muralitharan 4-32) by 59 runs
scorecard

Muttiah Muralitharan may have lingered in Chaminda Vaas's shadow for the past fortnight, but he once again came good just when Sri Lanka needed him, taking four wickets in ten tight overs to strangle a spirited run-chase by the Zimbabwe top-order.

Zimbabwe were set a challenging target of 273, largely through the efforts of Mahela Jayawardene and Avishka Gunawardene, and if previous form was anything to go by, that total should have been at least 235 runs too steep. Dion Ebrahim and Grant Flower, though, made a brisk start against the seam of Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa, and after 14 overs the pair had added 69.

But the introduction of Murali changed the complexion of the innings. Ebrahim charged rashly at Murali's third delivery and was bowled through the gate for 32, and Grant Flower followed soon afterwards, although he was furious with umpire Jayasundara's decision. Replays showed the ball struck his back leg on the way to Jayawardene at slip. (88 for 2)

When Andy Flower (11) followed three overs later, lbw reverse-sweeping Sanath Jayasuriya (108 for 3) the challenge began to peter out. Stuart Carlisle and Craig Wishart ground along at three runs an over, before falling in quick succession to Russel Arnold, and with 98 runs still required, the rest was a formality. Heath Streak and Mlukeli Nkala made a decent fist of keeping up with the run-rate, but Murali returned to pick up two more wickets, and Kumar Dharmasena and Upal Chandana cleaned up the tail.

Earlier, Sri Lanka had been put in control of the match by a third-wicket stand of 166 between Jayawardene and Gunawardene.

Both players missed out on well-deserved centuries – Gunawardene top-edged a pull to mid-on for 90, while Jayawardene was pinned lbw by Henry Olonga for 96 – but their stand, plus a 27-ball cameo from Arnold (34) were enough to take Sri Lanka to an imposing total of 272 for 7.

Zimbabwe will not have entered the match with the highest of hopes, after their 38-all-out debacle on Saturday. But when Sri Lanka were 25 for 2 in the sixth over, their spirits would have lifted a fraction.

Streak struck with only the second ball of the match, tempting Jayasuriya into an injudicious slash outside off stump, and Travis Friend got in on the act shortly afterwards, as an uneasy Marvan Atapattu mistimed a backfoot drive to a diving Olonga at cover.

But Gunawardene, who has now reached 1000 runs in ODIs, and Jayawardene turned the tables with a measured pair of innings. Gunawardene in particular was circumspect, but after raising his 50 in 63 balls he began to swing more merrily, and Mluleki Nkala was taken for 17 runs in two overs.

With the bulk of the work done, all that was required of the rest was a slog to the finish. Arnold marshalled proceedings, while Chandana, Kumar Sangakkara and Vaas kept the run-rate ticking over.

Teams
Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 2 Avishka Gunawardene, 3 Marvan Atapattu, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Russel Arnold, 6 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 7 Upal Chandana, 8 Kumar Dharmasena, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Nuwan Zoysa, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan

Zimbabwe 1 Dion Ebrahim, 2 Grant Flower, 3 Stuart Carlisle (capt), 4 A Flower (wk), 5 Craig Wishart, 6 Doug Marillier, 7 Tatenda Taibu, 8 Heath Streak, 9 Mlukeli Nkala, 10 Travis Friend, 11 Henry Olonga

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