A spectacular Dilshan Madushanka hat-trick derailed a scintillating Zimbabwe chase in the final over, which Sikandar Raza had valiantly revived through the middle overs.

Raza had brought Zimbabwe to the cusp of what would have been a famous victory. They needed ten off the last over, he himself was on strike and batting beautifully on 92 off 86 balls, and at the other end was Tony Munvonga with whom he’d shared a 128-run stand.

But Madushanka backed his speed and went for the stumps. Raza attempted an over-the-shoulder scoop with the fine leg in the circle. But he could not get a touch on the ball, which sent middle stump flying.

With ten now needed off five, Zimbabwe were still in with a shot if someone could find the boundary. But Madushanka kept going full and fast, and kept finding wickets. Brad Evans tried a scoop as well, but wound up only giving short fine a catch. Richard Ngarava tried to swipe across the line next ball, and also found his stumps rearranged. Only two runs were possible off the last three deliveries – Madushanka sticking to fuller lengths and staying tight on the stumps. Though he had been expensive earlier, he had produced the defining over of the match in his first ODI this year. He took 4 for 62. Asitha Fernando took 3 for 50 from his ten overs.

Before that Madushanka finale, Raza had Zimbabwe sailing through the death overs. He and Munyonga had come together when Zimbabwe still needed 138 for victory off 120 balls, and the pair had produced a dynamic partnership, Raza always leading the way, manipulating the field expertly as the early assistance the pitch had offered died out. (Sri Lanka’s lower middle order had also found batting conditions improved substantially as the ball wore.)

Raza largely milked the spinners and reserved his big shots for the seam bowlers, punishing them severely when they missed their lengths. Sri Lanka’s fielding was sloppy through this period, and their over rate also suffered to such an extent that they were punished with having an extra fielder in the circle for the last two overs. Raza kept the singles and twos flowing, and in Munyonga had a partner who could turn the strike back over to him fairly efficiently.

Munyonga was dropped on 35 at deep point, with Zimbabwe needing 32 off 22 balls, and from there Zimbabwe’s victory felt fairly assured, as Raza continued to whittle down the score with boundaries and sharp running. Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka had his more reliable quicks – Dushmantha Chameera and Fernando – bowl out by the end of the 49th over, hoping one of them could take the breakthrough wicket. In the end, they left Madushanka with enough runs to defend that batters still had to hit a boundary in that over.

Sri Lanka’s innings had also centred around their sixth-wicket partnership, and those batters had – like Raza and Munyonga – been joined with the score 161 for 5.JanithLiyanage and Kamindu Mendis added 137 off 83 balls to electrify what had been a slow Sri Lanka innings until that point. Of those runs, Liyanage hit 70 not out off 47 balls, and Kamindu 57 off 36 before being bowled by Richard Ngarava off the last delivery of the innings.

Although batters above them had been watchful, Liyanage and Kamindu were more severe on the bowlers’ errors in length, as the spinners attempted to continue rushing through the overs, and the seamers tried to exploit the extra bounce in the surface. They found boundaries square of the wicket – Liyanage favouring the offside – and the two were also excellent between the wickets.

Kamindu was the busier of the two, but Liyanage got more strike towards the end of the innings, and did not fail to land some big blows, hitting an especially memorable helicopter-shot six off Ngarava in the final over. Trevor Gwandu had earlier conceded a 23-run over to the pair.

There had been good top-order contributions in both innings. For Zimbabwe, Sean Williams and Ben Curran both hit fifties in their 118-run partnership, having come together with the score at two wickets for no runs. For Sri Lanka, Pathum Nissanka had struck a patient fifty.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka 298/6 in 50 overs (Pathum Nissanka 76,  Kusal Mendis 38,  Sadeera Samarawickrama 35, Janith Liyanage 70*, Kamindu Mendis 57; Richard Ngarava 2-34, Blessing Muzarabani 1-65, Trevor Gwandu 1-61, Sikandar Raza 1-48, Sean Williams 1-26) beat Zimbabwe 291/8 in 50 overs  (Ben Curran 70, Sean Williams 57, Sikandar Raza 92, Tony Munyonga 43*; Asitha Fernando 3-50, Dilshan Madhushanka 4-62, Kamindu Mendis 1-33) by 7 runs 

[Cricinfo]