Dickwella, Gunaratne guide Lanka to win in record Test run chase

Colombo July 18 (IANS) Riding on vital knocks from middle-order batsmen Niroshan Dickwella and Asela Gunaratne Sri Lanka registered the highest successful chase on Asian soil to defeat Zimbabwe by four wickets in the one-off Test at the R. Premadasa Stadium here on Monday.

Chasing a victory target of 388 runs Sri Lanka suffered early jitters before scoring 391/6 in their second innings.

The earlier record was held by India who successfully chased 387 runs against England in 2008 at Chennai.

Dickwella was the highest scorer among the Lankan batsmen with 81 runs while Gunaratne remained unbeaten on 80.

Sri Lanka lost their entire top order for 203 runs before the duo put together a partnership of 121 runs to help the hosts secure victory.

All-rounder Dilruwan Perera played a steady knock staying unbeaten on 29 runs along with Gunaratne.

Earlier electing to bat first Zimbabwe posted 356 and 377 runs in the first and second innings respectively.

The visitors were boosted by good performances by Craig Ervine who scored 160 runs in the first innings and Sikandar Raza who scored 127 runs in the second innings.

In reply the home side fell 10-runs short in the first innings with leg-spinner Greame Cremer returning figures of 5/125 for Zimbabwe helping the visitors restrict Sri Lanka to 346 runs.

--IANS
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