Zoysa ‘trick floors Zimbabwe

But faced with a disaster, perhaps even a debacle, Zimbabwe fought back, but without much success on a day in which runs were scarce and at the close of play were precariously placed, reaching 162 with only one wicket remaining.Zoysa, bowling the second over of the day and following a maiden by Chaminda Vaas, trapped Trevor Gripper leg before with his first ball, Gripper failing to offer a shot.

He persuaded Murray Goodwin to edge a catch to ‘keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana with his second ball. And with his third he won another lbw verdict from West Indies umpire Steve Bucknor by sending back Neil Johnson.

It was Sri Lanka’s first hat-trick in Test cricket and the firstagainst Zimbabwe. It is believed to be the fastest Test match hat-trick in the history of the game.

Andy Flower, compiled a painstaking 74 (224b, 5×4, 1×6) before going out lbw to Vaas. He also figured in a partnership of 80 with Alistair Campbell.

Vaas secured his 100th wicket in Tests by getting the wicket of Bryan Strang, caught in the gully by TM Dilshan.

Scoreboard
Zimbabwe (1st innings): G Flower b Muralitharan 19, T Gripper lbw b Zoysa 0, M Goodwin c Kaluwitharana b Zoysa 0, N Johnson lbw b Zoysa 0, A Flower lbw b Vaas 74, A Campbell lbw b Wickramasinghe 36, G Whittall b Muralitharan 1, G Brent c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 3, B Strang c Dilshan b Vaas 4, H Olonga batting 4, E Matambanadzo batting 2; Extras: (b2, lb7, nb11) 20. Total: (for 9 wickets, 90 overs) 163

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-53, 5-133, 6-134, 7-152, 8-153, 9-161

Bowling: Vaas 24-7-44-3 (nb4), Zoysa 13-4-22-3, Wickremasinghe 18-7-31-1 (nb1), Muralitharan 27-10-40-2 (nb6), Jayasuria 3-1-7-0, Arnold5-2-10-0.