Zimbabwe Tri-Nation Series,
Final: Bulawayo, 27 November, 2016
Zimbabwe won the toss and chooses to bat first but the things didn’t go in there way from starting on wards. Zimbabwe lost its first two wickets under 20 runs. Zimbabwe had to partnerships in the middle order. For third wicket Ervin and Musakanda added 53 runs and for 4th wicket Mendis and Tharanga put 75 runs crucial partnership.
Zimbabwe was all out on 160 runs in just 36.3 over’s. It was a different story for the home side with the bat today. Vandersay and Gunaratne picked 3 wickets each.
In response Sri Lanka also had terrible start as it lost first 3 wickets on score of 42 the comeback man, Brian Vitori, made his presence felt. He struck thrice in the first 6 overs and for a moment it seemed like Sri Lanka was under pressure. But Kusal Mendis and Upul Tharanga comforted the anxiety.
The former went on a bit of a counter-attack and got the field spread while the skipper ensured that there was no more loss of wickets. The pair further a 75-run stand for the 4th wicket which nearly sealed the game. Both of them went on to make half centuries but Kusal Mendis was caught on 57 by Williams on the balling of Cremer. Now it was formality to finish the match with Tharanga 57* and Asela Gunaratne 16* did and won the match by 6 wickets and seal the series.
That ends a thrilling tri-series. Not many would have thought that Zimbabwe will show such a fight and reach to finals. But they proved everyone wrong. West Indies will be thwarted on failing three times in a string to close out games from a winning point though Sri Lanka will be pleased with the way their youngster’s played and win the final for them.
Kusal Mendis was declared Man of the Match and Series.
| TEAM | SCORE | OVERS |
| Zimbabwe | 160/10 | 36.3 |
| Sri Lanka | 166/4 | 37.3 |
Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets
