Masakadza defends cavalier approach

Hamilton Masakadza sacrificed his wicket in pursuit of quick runs

Hamilton Masakadza insisted he did the right thing in sacrificing his wicket even though Zimbabwe ultimately fell short in their run-chase in the third one-day international against Sri Lanka.

The tourists wrapped up a series victory with the win, but Zimbabwe had them worried as they got within five runs of their target of 172 in a game that was reduced to 28 overs.

Masakadza punished the the Sri Lanka bowlers for 77 runs off 70 balls, but he played with abandon after reaching his half-century, admitting he did not mind getting out as Tatenda Taibu has been so effective in run-chases of late.

“For the past seven or so games that we have been playing, Tatenda has been controlling the game and has been doing that specific role very well and I have been striking very well so it made sense for me to have a go,” said Masakadza, who was named man of the match.

When he departed Zimbabwe needed 38 runs from 30 balls with eight wickets in hand but only managed 33 - Taibu getting 21 - and crucially there were 10 dot balls following Masakadza’s departure.

Coach Walter Chawaguta was disappointed his team fell short but pointed the finger at their bowling.

“It’s not a pleasing result,” he said. “We will look at what we did wrong and work on that because we are still looking for a win, we believe that we have a chance and we will apply ourselves.

“We have done very well against big sides in Twenty20 games and once the game was reduced to 28 overs we knew we had a very good chance but in the end we missed out.”

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayewardene insisted he remained confident of the win even as Zimbabwe closed in.

“We thought 171 was a very good score (from 28 overs), we thought it was enough but they had a good start and I thought the openers batted really well,” he said.

“We knew we had bowlers who could attack, create opportunities and get wickets. There was no doubt about it but they (Zimbabwe batsmen) kept going and in a shorter game like this they had nothing to lose, they went after every ball.”