SRI LANKA 188/5(20 Overs) (Kusal Mendis 54, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva 37, Sikandar Raza 1/8, Ryan Burl 1/13) — ZIMBABWE 155/5(20 Overs) (Wessly Madhevere 42 r/hurt Milton Shumba 32, Chamika Karunaratne 2/26, Maheesh Theekshana 2/39)
Wesley Madhevere retired hurt in Zimbabwe’s 33 run loss to Sri Lanka in their first warm-up match, raising fears about his fitness ahead of the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup starting next week.
Madhevere hit 42 runs as Zimbabwe vainly pursued the target of 189 runs before being restricted to 155 runs for loss of five wickets in 20 overs in a match played in Melbourne, Australia.
The extent of the injury was not immediately clear, but Zimbabwe will be hoping that he recovers ahead of the first match against Scotland.
In yesterday’s match, the target was always going to be a tall order for the Chevrons, who have been inactive since the tour of Australia which ended at the beginning of last month, playing against the current Asian champions.
Sri Lanka won the Asian Cup after beating Pakistan by 23 runs last month.
But for Chevrons coach Dave Houghton, the warm-up matches are never about the result and believes that the team's form in recent months has galvanised the side.
“I think we are in good spirits. Nothing builds team spirit more than winning and we have had quite a lot of success in the last three months, so we have got good spirit. The hardest job today was just calming the guys down and getting those anxieties and those nerves out of the way and just start to think about the professionalism that they need over the next 10 days,” Houghton said on Monday ahead of yesterday's practice game.
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“I think it’s important that we recognise that it is a practice game (against Sri Lanka) and I think both teams will be playing 15 people, so it is more of a case of getting what we need out of the game in terms of our own techniques and worrying not about whether we win or lose.”
The team flattered to deceive in some moments against Sri Lanka before surrendering, but it was a promising performance because of the quality of the opponent.
Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine won the toss and chose to field first but his pace bowlers struggled to contain Sri Lanka openers Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka who put on a 57-run stand in just five overs.
However, the partnership was broken by Brad Evans who dismissed Nissanka for 21 but Mendis carried on to top score for Sri Lanka with 54 runs from 29 balls.
It was Ryan Burl who claimed the Mendis wicket in the 10th over with the score on 92.
Sri Lanka were reduced to 133/5 at the end of the 16th over but Wanindu Hasaranga played an excellent cameo of an unbeaten 37 off just 14 deliveries which proved to be the difference.
Zimbabwe’s chase got off to a flying start as Regis Chakabva and Ervine raced to 39 runs in just three overs before the latter was clean bowled by Maheesh Theekshana.
At 61/2 in seven overs, they looked well on course to reach the target.
Madhevere scored a run-a-ball 42 but wickets tumbled on the other side, halting the momentum of Zimbabwe's innings in the middle overs.
Milton Shumba scored a 25-ball 32 as Zimbabwe fell short by 33 runs as Theekshana and Chamika Karunaratne claimed a couple of wickets each.
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