Underdogs Zimbabwe chase maiden tri-series win at home

Match facts

Sunday, 27 November Start time 0930 local (0730 GMT)

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And so to the tri-series final, where a Sri Lanka squad brimming with promise, but light on experience, will meet a Zimbabwe side who have managed to rise to their feet after a rickety start to the series. Zimbabwe are still the underdogs, but the gulf is not so big that they cannot leap across it if they play to potential. They have the advantage in international experience, and this is their home turf.

Sri Lanka crumbled against West Indies’ pace and bounce in Harare, but they will remember their domination of the hosts in the series opener. Their batting clicked in dramatic fashion against West Indies on Wednesday, before their bowlers weathered Evin Lewis’ bold 148 to secure a one-run win. Despite their relative lack of experience, Sri Lanka appear to have depth in all areas, and they will be very difficult to beat.

Six years ago, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe met in a tri-series final at the Harare Sports Club. A handful of veterans from that series are part of the current squads: Hamilton Masakadza, Elton Chigumbura and Graeme Cremer for Zimbabwe, and Upul Tharanga and Nuwan Kulasekara for Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka had entered that tournament without four of their senior-most players (and titans all of them: Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya) but that didn’t stop them from lifting the title with a nine-wicket thumping of Zimbabwe in the final. As he leads a side similarly shorn of its seniors, Upul Tharanga will be hoping that history repeats itself.

Zimbabwe have seen almost all possible results in this tri-series – losing their first match, fighting to a tie in their second, having their third rained off, and then securing a narrow five-run Duckworth-Lewis win. An outright win in the final would complete the flush, and give all of Zimbabwe something to smile about.

Form guide

Zimbabwe WTLLL (Last five completed matches, most recent first)Sri Lanka WLWLL

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