da roleta： The forty or so groundsmen, who worked so hard in the morning to drythe ground this morning, will have been greatly relieved that theirefforts have proved so worthwhile for the Sri Lankan team
da bet sport： Charlie Austin05-May-2000The forty or so groundsmen, who worked so hard in the morning to drythe ground this morning, will have been greatly relieved that theirefforts have proved so worthwhile for the Sri Lankan team. In the 39overs that were eventually possible, after heavy rains in thepreceding 48 hours, Sri Lanka quickly progressed to 164-1. Not a baddays work for a side that would have preferred to have started thismatch tomorrow and play an extra day at the end.The Zimbabwean’s will perhaps rue their insistence to play today aftera thorough mauling by Avishka Gunawardena (114*). In a quite brutaldisplay of batting, Avishka was completely undeterred by the bowlerfriendly conditions and continued in the same positive vein that hescored a hundred at Kurunegala and a 72 in the Colombo for the BCCSLXI.His 114 not out from just 132 balls was a dismissive innings, it wasthe innings of a man who has supreme confidence in his ability at themoment. The greatest threat to his wicket is surely hisoverconfidence. In fact this innings was neither as technicallycorrect nor as ascetically pleasing as the innings in Kurunegala lastweek . It made up for this in it’s sheer audacity and high classentertainment. Such is his confidence that he was prepared to uppercuta disconsolate Andy Blignaut over the slips in the early overs.Starting the innings with a flurry of boundaries square of the wickethis only moments of unease were an appeal for a catch behind and adropped catch. In the ninth over the Zimbabwean’s were certain that hehad been caught behind of the bowling of Blignaut. The umpire didn’tagree and he was allowed to continue. He was also dropped in the gullywhen he had made just 60, it was though an extremely hard one-handedchance.Zimbabwe, who had won the toss and elected to field, will bedesperately disappointed by the performance of the bowlers and thefielders. Have won an opportunity to bowl first on a pitch of greenishcolour, they wasted any assistance that there may have been byspraying the ball around. The bowling discipline of the previous matchcompletely deserted the opener pair, Andy Blignaut and DavidMutendera, who couldn’t find a consistent line or length. WhilstMutendera frequently pushed the ball into the batsmen’s pads, Blignautbowled far too short on a slow pitch.The exception was their aggressive skipper, Gus Mackay, who settledinto his best rhythm of the tour. Probably incensed by the performanceof his openers he charged to the wicket with a focus and intensitythat we had not seen on the tour. He pitched the ball up to thebatsmen and bowled straight. By doing so he was the only bowler tomove the ball off this moist pitch and the only real threat to the SriLankan’s.His deserved reward was the wicket of Hewage (27) who was caughtbehind: the victim of a perfect legcutter. The wicket brought to anend an opening partnership of 96 in just 22 overs. Mackay should havehad two wickets when Gavin Rennie put down a relatively simple chanceat first slip off Indika De Saram (18*). One suspects that theZimbabwean’s will be forced to pay for dropping someone as talented.Whilst the other batsmen played a supporting role Avishka continued toblaze away, eventually reaching his century off just 111 deliveries inthe 34th over.Zimbabwe now have their work cut out tomorrow if they are to get backin this match. Especially with Andy Blignaut looking as if he hasdamaged his back again. They will most probably have to resort to thesteadying influence of Daniel Peacock and Raymond Price.
