Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka, 24th Match, Super Six at Bulawayo, CWC Qualifier, Jul 02 2023 - Match Result

It has been a pleasure bringing you live commentary and sharing in the excitement. Until next time, this is Rvel Zahid signing off on behalf of S Sudarshanan and our scoring master Thilak Rama. Goodbye and keep enjoying the great game of cricket!

Dasun Shanaka, Sri Lanka Captain: "See coming for the qualifiers. It's always tough but still, if you go through the process...and we know with the team we got, we are going to qualify for the World Cup. Credit to the other teams; they played really well in the tournament. Some other teams gave us some good fights but still, we are the better side. To be honest, these bunch of players, they have got their own skill, and they utilized the conditions really well over here. We stick to our basics whatever the condition, whatever the situation is. We want to play the hardest as much as we can. That is what's important. Not going to take it lightly against West Indies, so we are going to give our maximum over there as well. It's a big achievement (to qualify for the World Cup) but still, you know what we have done in the past in World Cups...we hold the 1996 World Cup, runners-up in 2011 and we have been playing amazing cricket in the World Cups. So it was a much-needed thing for Sri Lanka to play on that big stage. World Cup ahead is the main focus and main target for us. So we are waiting to deliver there as well."

Craig Ervine, Zimbabwe Captain: "Those first three wickets put us on the back foot. I think that the partnership between Raza and Williams got us slowly back into the game, and then he (Theekshana) came on...unfortunately, we couldn't recover from that collapse in the middle order. Look, I don't think we need to prepare any differently from what we have been doing in this tournament (against Scotland). We have been playing some very good cricket. Sri Lanka were much better than us today."

Maheesh Theekshana, Player of the Match: "We had made good plans. I just bowled wicket to wicket. Because we lost Lahiru, I knew I had to bowl in the power play. Madushanka got us three wickets and Sean was batting brilliantly but when I came on, I didn't allow them to settle down. I was able to execute my plans. Actually, this win boosts our confidence, we knew how good we are and our plan was to win all games."

Theekshana was miserly once again and didn't let Zimbabwe get off the hook after Madushanka's hostile opening burst that prised out three wickets in the powerplay; he had the new ball hooping around and offered no leeway to the openers. The match inexorably headed one way after a brilliant bowling performance from Sri Lanka and a pretty underwhelming show with the bat from the tournament's hosts. While Hasaranga was somewhat neutered by relentless sweeping, Theekshana continued to discombobulate the batters throughout his spell as the innings began to peter out and Zimbabwe were unable to shield their stumps. The move to dominate the spinners in the middle overs backfired. They could have given themselves a good chance by batting through the fifty overs but they threw the caution to the wind against Theekshana - who was breathing fire, hitting the right areas with unbelievable accuracy and extracting spin and bounce on this tricky pitch. It turned out to be a proper thrashing in the end that Zimbabwe didn't face before this game as they had been fiercely competitive in this tournament. They will go back to the drawing board and work on devising more effective strategies against potent bowling line-ups like the one they faced today.

Ankur Saxena: "Masakadza was in no mood to see Nissanka reach his 100.Nissanka I thought read his mind the next ball."

Yasindu: "32 or 16 Teams should compete in the main event. How is it a "World Cup" if it's played between 10 nations when there are 200 nations in the "World"?"

Damian : "1996 WC champions and 2007 and 2011 WC runners up book their place in 2023 WC where SL belong.Take my word today. SL will be in the last 4 of the 2023 WC ."

Adrian Meredith: "The margin of this victory will help Scotland. Surely now it's a straight result that's needed between Scotland and Zimbabwe. The winner qualifies"

Saminda : "I believe that out of this supersix, top FOUR should be selected for the WC instead of two.Then, we will have a good competition."