Third one-day International, Harare: Zimbabwe 35 all out (18 overs) v Sri Lanka 40-1 (9.2 overs)
Sri Lanka won the third one-day international by nine wickets after bowling a second-string Zimbabwe out for a world record low of 35. Zimbabwe capitulated in 18 overs in an innings in which there were four ducks and no-one made double figures.
Fast bowler Chaminda Vaas took 4-12, passing 300 one-day wickets in the process, and Faveez Maharoof 3-3. The previous lowest total was 36 when Sri Lanka routed Canada in the 2003 World Cup.
LOWEST ONE-DAY TOTALS
35: Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka, 2004
36: Canada v Sri Lanka, 2003
38: Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka, 2001-2
43: Pakistan v West Indies, 1992-93
45: Canada v England, 1979
45: Namibia v Australia, 2003
Sri Lanka made three changes to the side which won the second one-day international.
Spinner Rangana Herath made his debut alongside Maharoof, with star spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and Upul Chandana both rested. Fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa dropped out in favour of Dilhara Fernando. And after winning the toss and putting Zimbabwe into bat, they wasted little time in bowling the home side out. Herath ran out Stuart Matsikenyere for four and then Fernando took the first of his two wickets when top-scorer Dion Ebrahim was out for seven. Captain Tatenda Taibu was out first ball and Elton Chigumbura also failed to trouble the scorers. Sri Lanka set about passing the miserly total in gusto fashion, although Russel Arnold was out for six, caught behind off Doug Hondo's bowling. But Saman Jayantha, 28 not out, and Mahela Jayawardene, three not out, steered Sri Lanka home in the 10th over.
Zimbabwe were without 15 leading players, who were continuing to demand the reinstatement of Heath Streak as captain, changes to the national selection panel and what they consider a suitable system for solving player grievances.
Zimbabwe: V Sibanda, B R M Taylor, D D Ebrahim, T Taibu (Capt, Wkt) E Chigumbura, S Matsikenyeri, T Panyangara, M L Nkala, A Maregwede, D T Hondo, P Utseya.
Sri Lanka: S Jayantha, S T Jayasuriya, M S Atapattu (Capt), K C Sangakkara (Wkt), D P M D Jayawardene, T M Dilshan, R P Arnold, W P U J C Vaas, M F Maharoof, C R D Fernando, H M R K B Herath.
Umpires: D J Harper and I D Robinson.
Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by 9 wickets Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to field InningsZimbabwe 35 all out (18.0 overs) Sri Lanka 40 for 1 (9.2 overs) Zimbabwe Innings Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s S Matsikenyeri run out 4 12 1 0 B R M Taylor c T M Dilshan b W P U J C Vaas 4 24 1 0 D D Ebrahim c K C Sangakkara b C R D Fernando 7 10 1 0 T Taibu lbw b C R D Fernando 0 1 0 0 E Chigumbura b W P U J C Vaas 0 3 0 0 A Maregwede b W P U J C Vaas 2 14 0 0 V Sibanda c T M Dilshan b M F Maharoof 4 15 0 0 M L Nkala not out 3 8 0 0 P Utseya lbw b W P U J C Vaas 0 4 0 0 D T Hondo c K C Sangakkara b M F Maharoof 4 15 0 0 T Panyangara c K C Sangakkara b M F Maharoof 0 2 0 0 Extras 0b 3lb 4w 0nb 7 Total 18.0 overs (all out) 35 Bowler O M R W Fall of wickets: W P U J C Vaas 9.0 4 11 4 1-5 [ S Matsikenyeri, 13 mins] C R D Fernando 6.0 2 18 2 2-18 [ D D Ebrahim, 18 mins] M F Maharoof 3.0 1 3 3 3-18 [ T Taibu, 1 mins] 4-18 [ B R M Taylor, 6 mins] 5-19 [ E Chigumbura] 6-27 [ A Maregwede, 20 mins] 7-27 [ V Sibanda, 3 mins] 8-28 [ P Utseya, 6 mins] 9-35 [ D T Hondo, 12 mins] 10-35 [ T Panyangara, 1 mins] Sri Lanka Innings Batsman Runs Balls 4s 6s S Jayantha not out 28 26 4 1 R P Arnold c T Taibu b D T Hondo 6 19 0 0 D P M D Jayawardene not out 3 10 0 0 Extras 0b 0lb 3w 0nb 3 Total 9.2 overs (for 1 wicket) 40 Bowler O M R W Fall of wickets: D T Hondo 5.0 0 11 1 1-23 [ R P Arnold, 20 mins] T Panyangara 4.2 0 29 0 Umpires: D J Harper, I D Robinson Zimbabwe T Taibu (capt/wkt), V Sibanda, B R M Taylor, D D Ebrahim, E Chigumbura, S Matsikenyeri, T Panyangara, M L Nkala, A Maregwede, D T Hondo, P Utseya Sri Lanka M S Atapattu, K C Sangakkara, S Jayantha, S T Jayasuriya, D P M D Jayawardene, T M Dilshan, R P Arnold, W P U J C Vaas, M F Maharoof, C R D Fernando, H M R K B Herath
First Test, Harare, day three: Sri Lanka 541 beat Zimbabwe 199 & 102 by an innings and 240 runs
ROAD TO A RECORD
1st wicket Craig McDermott (Aus) lbw, Colombo Sept 1992
100th Stephen Fleming (NZ) bowled, Hamilton Mar 1997
200th Dominic Cork (Eng) caught, The Oval Aug 1998
300th Shaun Pollock (SA) bowled, Durban Jan 2001
400th Henry Olonga (Zim) bowled, Galle Jan 2002
500th Michael Kasprowicz (Aus) bowled, Kandy Mar 2004
520th Mluleki Nkala (Zim) caught, Harare May 2004
Muttiah Muralitharan became the most successful bowler in the history of Test cricket as Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by an innings and 240 runs in Harare. The 32-year-old surpassed West Indian Courtney Walsh's career total of 519 victims when he had Mluleki Nkala caught at silly mid-off. He also dismissed Alester Maregwede next ball as Zimbabwe were all out for 102, with Nuwan Zoysa claiming 5-30.
It was Sri Lanka's biggest margin of victory in their 22-year Test history. The result exceeded their innings and 215-run win over England in Colombo last December and was achieved with two days to spare. Their bowlers wasted no time making inroads into the inexperienced Zimbabwe batting line-up after being bowled out for 541 during the morning session, a first innings lead of 342. Zoysa removed Stuart Matsikenyeri (11) and Dion Ebrahim (two) to reduce them to 15-2 at lunch and three more wickets went down in successive overs following the resumption. Brendan Taylor was superbly caught by a diving Muralitharan at leg gully for four off Chaminda Vaas and Zoysa then made short work of Tatenda Taibu and Elton Chigumbura. Zimbabwe were in danger of total humiliation but Nkala and Maregwede temporarily halted the collapse with a stubborn stand of 45. Maregwede had the temerity to twice slog Muralitharan over the leg-side for four as the spinner went through his variations in search of the record. They survived for 13 overs before Nkala, on 24, prodded forward and gave a bat-pad catch to Mahela Jayawardene at silly mid-off, prompting the entire Sri Lankan team to surround a jubilant Muralitharan. Prosper Utseya was bowled by Farveez Maharoof and there were further celebrations when Maregwede departed for 22 to the first ball of Muralitharan's next over. But they had to be cut short when he went off for treatment after damaging his hand in taking the catch. Zoysa completed his first five-wicket haul when Blessing Mahwire was caught behind but Tinashe Panyangara hit a six and two fours in his 18 to take the total to three figures.
His stand with Doug Hondo (15 not out) was worth 30 when he was caught behind off Sanath Jayasuriya to bring the match to an end. Muralitharan had earlier done his bit with the bat during the morning session as the tourists added 85 to their overnight score of 456-7. He made 26 in a last-wicket stand of 45 with Zoysa before he was caught off Panyangara, who took 3-101 in his debut Test match. Zimbabwe: T Taibu (captain), D Ebrahim, B Taylor, M Nkala, B Mahwire, D Hondo, P Utseya, T Panyangara, A Maregwede, S Matsikenyeri, E Chigumbura. Sri Lanka: MS Atapattu (capt), ST Jayasuriya, KC Sangakkara, DPMD Jayawardene, TM Dilshan, TT Samaraweera, HAPW Jayawardene (wkt), WPUJC Vaas, DNT Zoysa, M Muralitharan, M F Maharoof.
Brian Lara has set the highest score ever in Test cricket, hitting 400 not out in the fourth Test against England. Lara passed the previous best of 380 by Matthew Hayden and then declared after reaching the quadruple century.
The Trinidadian left-hander faced 582 deliveries, hitting 43 fours and four sixes, setting a new mark just over two hours into the third day in Antigua. The feat came on the same ground where he hit a then record 375, also against England, in 1994. Lara, who resumed the day 313 not out, shared an unbroken partnership of 282 with Ridley Jacobs, who hit a century himself to leave the home side 751-5 at the post-lunch declaration. The shots that will stick long in the memory came off consecutive balls in a Gareth Batty over shortly before lunch. Lara equalled Hayden's score by lofting Batty over long-on for six and then topped the mark with a swept four past fine leg. And he revealed Hayden had been in touch with him.
"Matt said he had been listening to it and was very happy for me," said Lara. "He enjoyed the period he had the record and I am sure he is capable of doing it again, as are a lot of very good batsmen around the world, and I really appreciated that he took the time out to make the call." During the day Lara passed Australian legend Sir Donald Bradman's personal best 334 and the English record 364 set by Sir Leonard Hutton in 1938. He did survive a possible chance on 359 when what appeared to be a nick down the leg side was dropped by debutant wicket-keeper Geraint Jones. Across the Caribbean, in Lara's home village of Cantaro, Trinidad, 52-year-old Freddie Gordon was watching the action on TV in the Valley Bar. "The man was a perfect cricketer from when he was a baby," said the local car mechanic.
APRIL 2004
Brian Lara has spoken of his joy after breaking the world Test batting record for a second time in 10 years.
The West Indies captain hit 400 not out against England in Antigua to wrest the record back from Matthew Hayden's 380.
He admitted the feeling was different from when he first broke the record on the same ground a decade ago, when he hit 375 against the same opposition. "When I reached it before I didn't know what to expect. This time it was very tiring but I'm here again," he said.
The 35-year-old added: "I didn't really think about the record until I got to my double hundred and realised there was still a lot of time left in the game because of the rate we were scoring." Lara admitted the celebrations were tempered by the fact West Indies were already 3-0 down in the series - their first home defeat by England since 1968. "It's a great feeling but it is dampened by the series result," he said. "Ten years ago the match ended in a draw but this time we're looking for a result." Australian batsman Hayden was one of the first to congratulate Lara.
Lara surpassed the 380 Hayden registered against Zimbabwe in October 2003. "I spoke to Brian over the phone and passed on my congratulations for a truly amazing effort," said Hayden.
"I feel proud to know he's conquered me with such an awesome performance." Hayden broke Lara's first record when he scored 380 and he added: "I wanted to let him know how appreciative I was when he contacted me in Perth last October. "I thought it was only appropriate that I pass on my own best wishes to him. "Breaking Brian's record against Zimbabwe was one of the most memorable days of my cricketing life, but records are made to be broken, and as a batsman, I guess they can fall at any time."
England are facing a hefty defeat after West Indies declared on 751-5. He will go down as one of the greats of the game and it will take some player and some performance to beat his 400 Michael Vaughan At the close of play, England were 171-5 with two days of the final Test remaining. But skipper Michael Vaughan took time out at the end of the day's play to pay tribute to Lara's innings. "We all set out to achieve greatness, but he is a gifted, gifted player," said Vaughan.
"He is one of the all-time great players, he has achieved something that has never been achieved before even with the amount of pressure he had on him before the start of this Test. "He will go down as one of the greats of the game and it will take some player and some performance to beat his 400."
Fourth Test, Antigua (day five, stumps)
West Indies 751-5 dec. drew with England 285 & 422-5
April 2004
England suffered some middle-order jitters but did enough to draw the final Test in Antigua, largely through the batting of Michael Vaughan. Windies spinners Ryan Hinds and Ramnaresh Sarwan each claimed two wickets but Vaughan hit 140.
That, together with fifties from Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain took England to 422-5, at which point Brian Lara offered a draw. The series ends 3-0 to England and the two teams now contest a one-day series. The final day was all about England, who started it on 145-0 after following on, knowing that they needed to see out 90 overs to deny West Indies a consolation victory in the final match. Vaughan reached lunch on 119, having added 182 for the first wicket with Trescothick and having already settled into another weighty partnership with Mark Butcher.
He was generally untroubled through the first hour and a half of play but had one or two tricky moments against Barbadian seamers Pedro Collins and Tino Best just before reaching three figures. The shot with which he went to his century, only his second as England captain, was probably his best of the whole series. On 99, he leant into a off-drive off Collins which bisected the in-field and rattled to the boundary boards.
Trescothick had begun moving his feet to play some decent drives on the off-side before Fidel Edwards confused him with a full-length slower ball which he could only hit aerially to cover. Between lunch and tea, Vaughan settled into a partnership with Butcher that used up a further 31 overs in all. It was a surprise when that came to an end - the under-rated leg-spin of Sarwan catching the edge of the England captain's bat with a ball that turned. Butcher and Hussain were together for nearly two hours from that point. Hussain scored his runs more quickly but it was Butcher who looked more assured. Both men fell after tea - Butcher, on 61, edging a slog-sweep off Ryan Hinds to first slip and Hussain getting bowled behind his legs for 56 playing the same shot.
Graham Thorpe then held up one end and was joined by Andrew Flintoff, who swatted a full toss to midwicket at the start of the final hour to set up a tense conclusion.
But Geraint Jones valiantly saw out a couple of overs peppered with inswinging yorkers from Edwards, and Lara, somewhat surprisingly, offered him and Thorpe a draw with half an hour remaining on the clock.
West Indies: B Lara (capt), C Gayle, D Ganga, R Sarwan, D Smith, R Hinds, R Powell, R Jacobs (wkt), T Best, P Collins, F Edwards, C Collymore.
England: M E Trescothick, M P Vaughan (capt), M A Butcher, N Hussain, G P Thorpe, A Flintoff, G Jones (wkt), G Batty, M J Hoggard, S P Jones, S J Harmison,
Streak quits captaincy
Zimbabwe Cricket Union chief executive Vincent Hogg has met with former captain Heath Streak in a bid to settle the differences that led to his exit. According to the ZCU, Streak gave it an ultimatum to restructure the national selection panel or he would quit.
The board rejected his demands and said Streak had resigned from playing at all levels in the country. Streak insists he did not resign, nor threaten to do so, though Hogg declined to give details of the meeting.
Over the weekend, the ZCU appeared to rule out ever picking Streak again by saying he had retired "from all forms of cricket". After Heath Streak, there was no one else there capable of captaining the side
"He wanted us to reduce the number of selectors to four. We currently have five.
"He wanted us to have selectors who had played either Test or first-class cricket," said chairman Peter Chingoka. "That's out of his jurisdiction. It's not for him to say who can be on the selection panel or how many selectors there should be or what other responsibilities a selector can or cannot have." Wicket-keeper Tatenda Taibu, Streak's deputy, has been elevated to the captaincy. The 20-year-old is the country's first black captain and will become the youngest captain in Test history when he leads Zimbabwe in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Harare next month.
Murali will travel to Australia for analysis on his action
Muttiah Muralitharan's action will be assessed by the same bio-mechanist who cleared the Sri Lankan spinner of throwing in 1996. Murali was reported for a second time as his "doosra" delivery caused concern in the series against Australia. He will be sent to Professor Bruce Elliott at the University of Western Australia for assessment.
"This guy along with Shane Warne are the best two spin bowlers of all time. I don't think from his perspective it would be good if he went down in history with questions over his action." However, Professor Elliott told the Sydney Morning Herald that Murali's new ball does merit assessment. There is a danger people will lose all sense of proportion and reason ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed
"Having seen him bowl on television, it looks like an area of concern. There does seem to be some extending of his action as he releases the ball," he told the newspaper. "You are allowed a 10-degree extension of the arm during delivery." Muralitharan's action was called into question during the third Test between Sri Lanka and Australia at Colombo.
Match referee Chris Broad reported his new delivery that acts like a leg-break, spinning the opposite way from his stock off-cutters. The spinner has taken 513 Test wickets - six short of current record holder Courtney Walsh - and four less than Australian spinner Shane Warne.
Second Test, Bulawayo:
Zimbabwe 210-2 drew with Bangladesh 168
Zimbabwe's Stuart Carlisle hit a century as the second Test against Bangladesh ended in a draw. With three days lost to rain, a draw was the only possible result, allowing Zimbabwe to claim the series 1-0.
But the home side gained a moral victory after dismissing Bangladesh for 168 and reaching 210-2 in reply. After Carlisle hit the boundary to bring up his second Test ton off 173 balls, the final throes of the match were immediately abandoned. It was only the second time since Bangladesh gained Test status in November 2000 that they escaped defeat.
Their only other draw in 28 matches was also against Zimbabwe, at rain-hit Dhaka in 2001. The tourists had little to celebrate however as Sean Ervine and Ray Price took three wickets each to cut them down from an overnight 88-5. Opener Dion Ebrahim had faced just three overs in reply when he pushed Tapash Baisya to second slip.
But Trevor Gripper joined Carlisle in a second-wicket stand of 129 to fill out much of the remaining time. He had made 64 when he top-edged a pull off Baisya to be caught behind. Grant Flower hit a patient 37 before the match was called off.
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Zimbabwe: Heath Streak (capt), Tatenda Taibu, Trevor Gripper, Grant Flower, Dion Ebrahim, Stuart Carlisle, Sean Ewing, Travis Friend, Ray Price, Blessing Mawhire, Douglas Hondo.
Bangladesh: Habibul Bashar (capt), Hannan Sarker, Shahriar Hossain, Rajin Saleh, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahman, Manjural Islam, Khaled Mashud, Tapash Baishya, Mohammad Rafique, Alamgir Kabir.
Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to field
First InningsBangladesh 168 all out (75.5 overs)
Zimbabwe 209 for 2 (60.2 overs)
Second Innings
�Bangladesh Innings � Hannan Sarkar b S M Ervine 25� �Shahriar Hossain c T Taibu b S M Ervine 31� Habibul Bashar c T J Friend b H H Streak 4� Rajin Saleh c S M Ervine b D T Hondo 6� Mohammad Ashraful c S V Carlisle b T J Friend 1� Manjural Islam Rana c T Taibu b R W Price 39� Mushfiqur Rahman lbw b D T Hondo 0� Khaled Mashud lbw b S M Ervine 9� Tapash Baisya c G W Flower b R W Price 2� Mohammad Rafique not out 26� Alamgir Kabir c D D Ebrahim b R W Price 3� Extras 0b 4lb 6w 12nb 22 � �Total 75.5 overs (all out) 168 � �Bowler O� M� R� W� �Fall of wickets: �H H Streak 15.0� 9� 19� 1� �1-64 [ Shahriar Hossain, 95 mins] �D T Hondo 18.0� 5� 25� 2� �2-73 [ Habibul Bashar, 16 mins] �S M Ervine 15.0� 4� 46� 3� �3-73 [ Hannan Sarkar, 4 mins] �N B Mahwire 10.0� 2� 34� 0� �4-81 [ Mohammad Ashraful, 39 mins] �T J Friend 9.0� 2� 20� 1� �5-87 [ Rajin Saleh, 20 mins] �R W Price 8.5� 2� 20� 3� �6-89 [ Mushfiqur Rahman, 7 mins] � � � � � �7-126 [ Khaled Mashud, 81 mins] � � � � � �8-137 [ Tapash Baisya, 21 mins] � � � � � �9-144 [ Manjural Islam Rana, 9 mins] � � � � � �10-168 [ Alamgir Kabir, 41 mins] �Zimbabwe Innings � �D D Ebrahim c Hannan Sarkar b Tapash Baisya 2� T R Gripper c Khaled Mashud b Tapash Baisya 64� S V Carlisle not out 103� G W Flower not out 37� Extras 0b 0lb 0w 3nb 3 � �Total 60.2 overs (for 2 wickets) 209 � �Bowler O� M� R� W� �Fall of wickets: �Tapash Baisya 15.0� 3� 43� 2� �1-5 [ D D Ebrahim, 11 mins] �Alamgir Kabir 8.0� 1� 39� 0� �2-134 [ T R Gripper, 139 mins] �Mushfiqur Rahman 10.0� 1� 36� 0� � �Mohammad Rafique 20.0� 7� 53� 0� � �Manjural Islam Rana 6.0� 0� 32� 0� � �Mohammad Ashraful 1.2� 0� 6� 0� � Umpires: N A Mallender, D L Orchard
SACHIN
LORDS
QUEENS
WANDERERS
RAYMOND "RAZOR" PRICE
