De Silva, Ranatunga script a thriller

Continuing from an overnight 209 for five and needing 326 runs to win, Lanka cruised to victory in the 50th over of the day thanks to the efforts of veteran campaigners Aravinda de Silva 143 not out and skipper Arjuna Ranatunga 87 not out who established a new series record for the sixth wicket.

Their stand was worth 189 runs and bettered the previous 143 between Romesh Kaluwitharana and Ranatunga in Colombo in 1995-96.

De Silva made his first century against Zimbabwe and brought up the winnings runs with a boundary to the mid-wicket fence half an hour before the scheduled tea break.

He hit 16 boundaries and two sixes in 459 minutes at the crease.

Both Ranatunga and de Silva defied the bowlers for 309 minutes.

SCOREBOARD

Zimbabwe 1st innings 251

Sri Lanka 1st innings 225

Zimbabwe 2nd innings 299

Sri Lanka 2nd innings overnight 209-5: S Jayasuriya c A Flower b Streak 68, M Atapattu c A Flower b Streak 0, R Mahanama lbw M Bhangwa 0, A de Silva not out 143, H Tillekratne lbw b Streak 0, R Kaluwitharana c Campbell b Streak 4, A Ranatunga not out 87; Extras b11, lb13 24. Total for five wickets in 112.5 overs 326

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-1, 3-115, 4-115, 5-137.

Bowling: H Streak 24-5-84-4, M Bhangwa 14-4-34-1, A Whittal 43-10-93-0, P Strang 24-4-75-0, G Whittal 7-1-12-0, M Goodwin 0.5-0-4-0.