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Zimbabwe beats Sri Lanka, enters final

SHARJAH April 7. Zimbabwe beat Sri Lanka by four wickets and qualified for the final of the Sharjah Cup here today. In the final on Thursday Zimbabwe meets Pakistan.

After bowling out Sri Lanka for a modest 193, Zimbabwe reached the target in 48.4 overs with man-of-the-match Grant Flower remaining unbeaten on 61 (88 b, 6x4). After a fairly good start and sitting pretty at 158 for three, Zimbabwe lost three quick wickets for the addition of just nine runs. But Streak in company with Flower guided Zimbabwe to victory. Streak remained unbeaten on 19 off just 25 balls. For Sri Lanka, Lokuarachchi was the most successful bowler claiming three for 37 in his 10 overs.

Earlier Heath Streak set the tone for the Zimbabwe attack by clean bowling Sanath Jayasuriya in the first over for a duck to spoil the Sri Lankan skipper's 300th outing in one-day cricket.

With Zimbabwe bowlers maintaining a tight line and length, Sri Lankan batsmen struggled to pace their innings despite making good starts.

Hashan Tillekaratne, playing his 200th match was top scorer with 31 off 52 balls. Avishka Gunawardene (24), Marvan Atapattu (29), Kumar Sangakkara (25) and Kaushal Lakuarachchi (28) all chipped in but failed to build substantial partnerships.

Sri Lanka expected another good innings from left-hander Sangakkara who scored unbeaten back-to-back centuries in the previous two matches, but this time he failed to convert a good start into a big knock, falling in the deep while trying to step up the scoring.

The last Sri Lankan pair of Buddhika Fernando (14 not out) and Prabhat Nissanka (11) scored a brisk 25 off as many balls to give their bowlers some score to defend.

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