ESPN Summary
Sri Lanka stand behind the Champions banner as well-deserved winners. They maintain their proud record at home, and what a start Dinesh Chandimal has had to his captaincy career. This has been a famous win for Sri Lanka. This Test will be spoken of for a long, long time. Sri Lanka will rejoice for now, but it will be back to work pretty soon with a tough series against India looming. This is all we have from here. The first of the Women’s World Cup semifinals has just got underway, so do switch tabs to catch out coverage of that. From here, it’s goodbye from myself and Deiva. Thank you for joining us!
Sri Lankan cricketers pose for photographers after victory in the final day of a one-off Test match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at the R Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo on July 18, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ISHARA S. KODIKARA (Photo credit should read ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images)
Perera raises his arms and punches the air. Handshakes from both sides. Spare a thought for Zimbabwe. They stayed in this until the very end. They began the year with defeats to Scotland and Afghanistan, but they have plenty to be proud of after this tour. Won the ODI series, nearly pulled off their first Test against Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe are gathered into a huddle. They deserve a word of appreciation for the fight they have shown. Cremer finally puts on a feeble smile as shakes the hand of the opposition captain. He bowled his heart out. For 48 overs, he gave it his all, but Zimbabwe faltered towards the very end, fluffing a few chances. Regis Chakabva had a torrid day behind the stumps but he will come out of this with a world of experience. Questions will be asked of that decision from C Shamshuddin that enabled Dickwella to survive. From there, Sri Lanka never looked back, and pulled off the highest successful chase in Sri Lanka, and the fifth-highest of all time. Stay tuned, we will bring the presentations to you shortly.
Zimbabwe cricket captain Graeme Cremer reacts during the final day of a one-off Test match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at the R Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo on July 18, 2017. / AFP PHOTO
mo: “Some grounds are just destined to be in the record books. Only 9 Tests played at the Premadasa yet the highest Test score of all time as well as the highest successful chase in Asia have been made here.”
“It’s been a really good five days, so credit goes to all the players, they stuck to the plans and went there and did their best,” says Dinesh Chandimal. “It’s always tough when you’re batting in the fourth innings but I told the team that they should play their normal game and they played some outstanding innings, especially Dickwella and Asela. Of course,it’s always challenging as a captain but it’s about doing the right things on and off the field. It (series against India) is obviously a tough challenge for us. As a team, everyone does their best, and I hope they will do the same against India.”
“Disappointing but credit to Sri Lanka, to chase 380 on a day-five pitch is pretty special,” says Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer. “So credit to them, but credit to our guys as well. The way the guys fought and got the runs on the board and pushed Sri Lanka till he last day was great. We don’t play enough Test cricket, so it’shard sometimes making decisions out there, but there is a lot to learn from this Test match. The one-day series is a high point for us, we brought that confidence into the Test match and it gave us the belief that we could push the big teams.”
Rangana Herath is the Player of the series. “I know I have bowled a lot of overs, but when you still enjoy playing cricket, I wouldn’t mind bowling more in future,” he says. “Good to hear that I went past those guys. Overall, this Test match was very good. They were playing sweeps and reverse sweeps,which made it hard for us. But we played better than Zimbabwe, that is why we are here.”
Asela Gunaratne is the Player of the Match. Asela Gunaratne says he is extremely happy with the way he played, despite not being fully fit.
This is only third time in Tests that all four innings have been between 300 and 400.
Perera raises his arms and punches the air. Handshakes from both sides. Spare a thought for Zimbabwe. They stayed in this until the very end. They began the year with defeats to Scotland and Afghanistan, but they have plenty to be proud of after this tour. Won the ODI series, nearly pulled off their first Test against Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe are gathered into a huddle. They deserve a word of appreciation for the fight they have shown. Cremer finally puts on a feeble smile as shakes the hand of the opposition captain. He bowled his heart out. For 48 overs, he gave it his all, but Zimbabwe faltered towards the very end, fluffing a few chances. Regis Chakabva had a torrid day behind the stumps but he will come out of this with a world of experience. Questions will be asked of that decision from C Shamshuddin that enabled Dickwella to survive. From there, Sri Lanka never looked back, and pulled off the highest successful chase in Sri Lanka, and the fifth-highest of all time. Stay tuned, we will bring the presentations to you shortly.