da fazobetai： On an extremely hot and humid day at welegedara stadium inkurunegala sri lanka’s opening batsmen responded to thezimbabwean first innings score of 306 in emphatic fashion,reaching 231for the loss of just one wicket at the close
da lvbet： Charlie Austin25-Apr-2000On an extremely hot and humid day at welegedara stadium inkurunegala sri lanka’s opening batsmen responded to thezimbabwean first innings score of 306 in emphatic fashion,reaching 231for the loss of just one wicket at the close. Thehighlight of the innings being a magnificent 129 off 193 balls byavishka gunawardena.This was a frustrating day for this young zimbabwean side. Notonly did their opening bowler have retire to the dressing roomfor treatment of a back strain after just five overs, but theyappeared unlucky to have three confident appeals turned down byumpire b.c. Cooray during the afternoon session. So convincedwere the fielding side that hewage had touched the deliveriesfrom matambanadzo and price, that for the first time in theseries, frustrations threatened to boil over.When umpire, b.c. Cooray, refused to uphold their appeal theirwas visible disbelief on the faces of the fielders and a delay inplay as they took time to register their feelings. Words wereexchanged from various quarters and the tension eventuallycompelled cooray to speak to gus mackay.Whether cooray’s decision was correct or not the real root of thezimbabwean’s frustration was undoubtedly the fine batting of thesri lankan openers and their own inability to maintain a tightline and length. The sri lankan’s scored their runs at nearlyfour runs an over. Whilst praising the quality of the batsmen’sstrokeplay, kevin curran pointed to the lack of concentrationshown by the bowlers.”The guys lack experience of this type of cricket and this makesit difficult for them to concentrate like they should. We bowledtoo many bad balls and gave the batsmen too much width. Going fornearly 4 runs an over you are never going to be able to controlthe opposition.”This does not take anything away from the quality of avishkagunawardena’s exhilarating innings. He batted quite superbly. Asper usual he started like a wild buffalo, smashing the openingbowlers through the covers and over mid-on. However when thespinners were introduced in the 10th over of the innings hetempered his aggression and played in a much more calculatedmanner. Despite there being something of a `crash bang’ labelattached to this young batsmen, one cannot ignore the ease withwhich he middles the ball and an important ability to hitstraight. There appears to be a sound technical foundation to hisexplosive style.His partner, pradeep hewage (81*), was far more cautious early onbut gradually grew in confidence, especially against thespinners. Possessing a very closed stance his batting style isascetically quite awkward but extremely workmanlike, even if hewas lucky to not have been adjudged lbw.In the morning session zimbabwe added 62 runs in 21 overs beforethey were bowled out. They reached the 300 mark thanks to ablistering innings by their experienced captain, gus mackay, whoscored 35 of 48 balls. Hi undefeated innings combined a mixtureof bold offence and patient defence. A naturally aggressivebatsmen he was prepared to hit anything loose.
