Raza's all-round show guides Zimbabwe to famous win in Sri Lanka

Raza's all-round show guides Zimbabwe to famous win in Sri Lanka

Sikandar Raza's stellar all-round display guided Zimbabwe to their first one-day international series win over hosts Sri Lanka with a nervous three-wicket victory in the fifth and final match at Hambantota on Monday.

Zimbabwe's first major one-day series win overseas since 2001 also jeopardised Sri Lanka's chances of qualifying for the 2019 World Cup.

The touring side, ranked 11th in the International Cricket Council's ODI rankings, restricted the hosts to 203-8 after winning the toss.

Off-spinner Raza opened the bowling for Zimbabwe and finished with his best bowling figures of 3-21.

Zimbabwe appeared to be cruising towards a famous victory after an opening partnership of 92 between Hamilton Masakadza (73) and Solomon Mire (43).

But they collapsed and lost six wickets for 38 runs to be reduced to 175-7 with Sri Lanka off-spinner Akila Dananjaya doing most of the damage with 4-47.

Raza, who made a run-a-ball 27, and captain Graeme Cremer (11 not out) then combined for an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 29 to take the African side home.

"Happy that Sikandar came to the party. It turned around very quickly but happy we pulled it off in the end," Cremer said.

"This win is very special, Fans must be jumping around back home. We knew we're playing good enough cricket to put them under pressure."

Zimbabwe had never beaten Sri Lanka in an ODI in Sri Lanka and came to the island country having lost to Scotland last month and a series to Afghanistan.

Sri Lanka, the 1996 50-over world champions, compounded their problems with the series loss, leaving the door open for West Indies to pip them in the race for automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales.

The top eight ranked sides, including hosts England, will qualify directly with the rest having to go through a qualification tournament to make up the 10-team event.

Sri Lanka are ranked eighth and will host India for a five-match series while West Indies, ranked a place below, play the same number of matches against England before the cutoff date of Sept. 30.

Asela Gunaratne (59 not out) and Dushmantha Chameera (18 not out) shared unbeaten 50-runs for the ninth wicket as Sri Lanka scored 203 in the series-deciding fifth and final ODI against Zimbabwe at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Cricket Stadium in Hambantota.

At one stage Sri Lanka were reeling at 126 for 7 and a score above 200 looked beyond reach but Gunaratne, together with tail-end batsmen batted sensibly to give Sri Lanka something to bowl at Gunaratne. It was a sublime knock from the right hander who reversed-sweep Christopher Mpofu over cover-point to bring up his half century. Chameera remained unbeaten on 18.

Sri Lanka lost half their side for 119 after Gunathilaka notched up his half-century in the process. Sikandar Raza’s spin web pushed hosts on backfoot as he scalped Mendis and Tharanga. Chatara removed Dickwella on the second delivery of his first over for 3.

Except for Gunaratne, Gunathilaka, Mathews, and Chameera, none of the other batters could reach the double figures in the innings where the third highest score came in the way of extras (28).

Zimbabwe, having elected to field first did extremely well on a turning track early on but left the intensity dropped towards the end which helped Sri  Lanka to a decent score. Graeme Cremer also picked up two wickets including that of Angelo Mathews.

The series is tied at 2-2.