Zimbabwe wins toss in do-or-die battle for Lanka

  Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat first at the fourth One Day International in the Tri-Nation series. Sri Lanka will be hoping to secure a win while Zimbabwe will be aiming for a place in the final.
 
Zimbabwea’s Craig Ervine said on Saturday that they are taking inspiration from the series win against Sri Lanka ahead of their crucial encounter against the Islanders in the ongoing tri-nation tournament.

If Zimbabwe beat Sri Lanka, they will go through to the final, inflicting a third loss on Sri Lanka.

“I think we are just trying to take it game by game,” Ervine told reporters at Dhaka. “Every game is different. I don’t think the plans will be exactly the same as the one against Sri Lanka previously. We have won a series against them and won the first game here too. Our XI will have to turn up for a good game.”

However, Ervine, one of the senior members of the side, urged his team mates not to take anything for granted, adding that they are wary of Sri Lanka’s chances of bouncing back.

“I am pretty sure they’ll be very keen to bounce back. They have to win the next two games in order to get to the final,” said Ervine. “We need one more win so we know they will come hard at us. We will have to go hard at them, even though we have beaten them once already. I don’t think our plans will change too much,”

“I think we have the momentum between the two sides and they are under pressure but they are a good side. We need to turn up with our A-game tomorrow in order to beat them again,” said the all-rounder.

Ervine added that he is expecting a similar pitch for the game against Sri Lanka and was confident that they had the resources to do well even on a different kind of pitch.

“The wicket in the first game against Bangladesh was a bit sticky. The last two games, the wicket has been a lot better; scoring (has) been lot higher. So hopefully those are the wickets we plan on for the rest of the tournament. I think a lot of it depends on the wicket. If it is a really good wicket, both seam and spin will have an even balance. But in recent times, we have been playing spin a bit better. Sri Lanka may think of adding an extra spinner instead of a seamer,” he said.

“We just have to turn up tomorrow regardless of what team they pick. We just have to be on top of the game,” Ervine summed up.

- Crickbuzz