Read the article of Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe 5th Match Hero Cup 1993 - Hero Cup five-nation one-day international tournament of the 5th match played between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka at Moin-ul-Haq Stadium, Patna in 15th November 1993.
Sanath Jayasuriya's four-for after Half-centuries from Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga helped to Sri Lanka comprehensive 55-run victory over babes Zimbabwe in the fifth match of a Hero Cup five-nation tournament.
* Sri Lanka finally broke their 6-match losing streak in One-day internationals.
Article Source : T.I.E via PTI, Published Date : 16th November 1993
Put in to bat by Zimbabwean skipper Andy Flower, the Lanka's hit up a challenging total of 263 for six in their allotted 50 overs with the help of 68 from Arvinda D'Silva and 59 from skipper Arjuna Ranatunga and a hard hitting 32 by Rumesh Ratnayake.
Zimbabwe never looked like chasing the total except for a brief period when Andrew Waller with a swashbuckling knock of 55 looked threatening. But skipper, Ranatunga with two quick scalps removed any fear of Zimbabweans making any comeback into the game and ensured the victory for his team. Ranatunga was tightly named the Man of the Match.
Considering the fact that Zimbabwe had scored 300 plus against the Lankans in the 1992 World Cup and yet the Lankans had successfully chased the target, it was expected that now it would be the turn of the Zimbabweans to give a hot chase to the healthy looking Lankan total and try force their first victory over the islanders.
But their chase began in a rather subdued manner as they were even below two runs per over till the 15th over. In the process the Zimbabweans also lost the wickets of opener David Brain and skipper Andy Flower by the 10th over. Rumesh Ratnayake, who was brought here to replace injured Asanka Gurusinghe and was playing for Lanka after a gap of nearly one and half years, dealt the first blow trapping Brain leg before in the 6th over.
Flower was rather unfortunate when he ran himself out while going for a risky run in the 10th over after scoring only 11 runs. Andrew Campbell and Dave Houghton tried to repair the damage and took the score past fifty, but Liyanage broke this pair by castling Houghton who had then scored 12. The arrival of Waller on the scene brought some hope for Zimbabwe. He soon went for the Lankan bowling and struck some powerful arrives. • • .
After a sweetly timed sweep which brought a four, Waller went on to loft Kalpage over the mid on for a huge six in 28th over and then hit two more lofted drives to get boundaries in Kalpage's sub-sequent over. In this over Waller also had a life when he was dropped by Wickramasinghe.
The lusty hitting by Waller saw Zimbabwean score race past the one hundred mark and they seemed to be within striking distance of the required run rate of 5.28, but then Ranatunga came on to bowl from far end and in his second over sent back Waller caught by Tillakaratne.
Waller struck seven fours and one six in his 55 made in just 46 balls. His departure signalled Lankan victory as barring some token resistcnce from Guy Whittall, who made 36 with two hits to the fence, none of the Zimbabwean batsmen could pose any threat and the innings folded in the 49th over.
Among the Lankan bowlers Sanath Jayasurya was the most sucessful picking up four wickets in his four overs at the expense of 19 runs. Skipper Ranatunga took two vitals wickets of Waller and Mark Dekker to turn the match in Lankans favour.
This was Sri Lanka's first victory after six consecutive defeats in international matches of which two were in the first two matches of this tournament. This victory has revived the hopes of their qualifying for the semi-final. This was also Sri Lanka's third straight win over Zimbabwe in as many matches between the two countries.
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