Janith Liyanage hits gritty 95 as Sri Lanka beats Zimbabwe by 2 wickets in 2nd ODI

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Janith Liyanage missed out on a century but his gritty 95 was enough to take Sri Lanka to a two-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the second one-day international on Monday.

Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine won the toss and elected to bat first. The decision backfired as his team was dismissed for a modest 208 runs in the 45th over at R. Premadasa Stadium.

Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals in its chase but Liyanage’s first ODI half-century in his second game and some courageous batting from the lower order helped the hosts reach 211-8 with six balls remaining to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

The first game was washed out because of rain.

Ervine played a captain’s innings for Zimbabwe by top scoring with 82 runs. His 20th ODI half-century came off 102 deliveries and included nine boundaries and a six.

Ryan Burl made 31 while opener Joylord Gumbie hit 30 runs.

Ervine shared 60 runs for the second wicket with Gumbie after Zimbabwe had lost opener Tinashe Kamunhukamwe (0) with just one run on the board. He added a further 53 with Milton Shumba (26) for the third wicket. But the visitors, who were 202-6, lost their last four wickets for six runs.

Spinner Maheesh Theekshana took 4-31.

Set a modest target, Sri Lanka lost opener Avishka Fernando with the total on 4, caught by wicketkeeper Gumbie off left-arm seamer Richard Ngarava. Ngarava struck again with Sri Lanka’s total on 16, when Sadeera Samarawickrama (4) was caught by Ervine at slip.

Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis survived when he was dropped on 16 soon after a rain interruption but he failed to take advantage and was dismissed for 17, caught at cover by Burl off Ngarava.

Charith Asalanka, who scored a century in the first match, was dismissed without scoring, caught behind to Ngarava.

Liyanage stabilized the innings and shared 56 runs for the seventh wicket after Sri Lanka fell precariously to 112-6. His 95 runs came off 127 deliveries and included six boundaries and two sixes.

Sri Lanka still needed 37 runs when Liyanage fell as the eighth wicket — he was caught by Ngarava off Blessing Muzarabani — but Dushmantha Chameera (18 not out) and Jeffrey Vandersay (19 not out) held on to secure a narrow victory.

Ngarava had his career-best bowling spell with 5-32.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket