Zimbabwe were 241for 7 wickets in the second innings and led Sri Lanka by 354 runs when  rain was a spoiler with play ending before the scheduled close on the fourth day of the second test match at the Harare Sports Club grounds on Wednesday. As it was, Zimbabwe had kept piling up the runs capitalising on the 113-run first innings lead so as to set Sri Lanka a daunting target on which to press for a much needed win to square the 2-test series which Sri Lanka leads 1-0 having won the first test handsomely.

Zimbabwe’s batsmen did well to swell their lead with Brendon Taylor making 67 for his tenth Test fifty while skipper Sean Williams contributed an unbeaten 47 and Sikandar Raza 34. Taylor’s 75-ball knock contained 8 boundaries and a six while William’s 76-ball innings comprised 6 boundaries.

The main wicket takers for Sri Lanka were Vishwa Fernando with 2 for 43 and Lasith Embuldeniya who took 2 for 81.

CHIEF SCORES:

Zimbabwe 406 and 241 for 7 (Taylor 67, Wiliams 47 n.o., Fernando 2/43, Embuldeniya 2/81)

Sri Lanka 293 (Mathews 64, Raza 7/113)

By Srian Obeyesekere

-The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Sri Lanka Cricket-