The weather remained fine, the crowd at the start did not even number three
figures as Zimbabwe took on Sri Lanka in the fifth and final one-day
international at Harare Sports Club.
Zimbabwe played the same team as they had in the previous match, as their
bowlers had done moderately well and there were no replacements available
for their non-scoring specialist batsmen. The one virtue of the team during
this one-day series has been consistency of selection; only one change has
been made in five matches.
Sri Lanka, having had a minor fright with their reserve team in the fourth one-dayer, played a stronger, though not their strongest, team on this occasion. Kumar Sangakkara was rested, and Dilhara Fernando and Nuwan Kulasekara left out; Marvan Atapattu, the captain, returned, along with Muttiah Muralitharan and Nuwan Zoysa.
The toss offered some amusement, as a South African five-rand coin was used
and both captains thought they had won it. It took the match referee to
decide that Sri Lanka had been successful and they chose to bat. The pitch looked good for batting, but after 35 all out Zimbabwe's traumas have not retreated.
Teams
Sri Lanka 1 Saman Jayantha, 2 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 3 Mahela Jayawardene, 4 Russel Arnold, 5 Farveez Maharoof, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan (wk), 7 Thilina Kandamby, 8 Upal Chandana, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Nuwan Zoysa.
Zimbabwe 1 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 2 Brendan Taylor, 3 Dion Ebrahim, 4 Tatenda Taibu (capt & wk), 5 Elton Chigumbura, 6 Alester Maregwede, 7 Mluleki Nkala, 8 Prosper Utseya, 9 Tawanda Mupariwa, 10 Douglas Hondo, 11 Tinashe Panyangara.