Zimbabwe were left ruing on a third umpire’s decision that may have cost them the one-off Test against Sri Lanka which they lost by four wickets at the R Premadasa Stadium yesterday.
Niroshan Dickwella was on 37 when he missed a ball from spinner Sikandar Raza and wicket-keeper Regis Chakabva brought off a stumping in the 73rd over. Zimbabwe fielders appealed confidently. The onfield umpires went upstairs to the third umpire for a decision and after several replays he ruled Dickwella not out. Sri Lanka at that point were 253-5.
Despite the disappointment of coming so close to recording their maiden Test win against Sri Lanka, Cremer said he was proud of his team and the way they played.
I am very proud of the way the guys played to win an ODI series here and then to push them in the Test match and almost beat them and take it to all five days into the fifth afternoon. It’s a good effort from our boys,” said Cremer.
“I don’t think it was so much of inexperience we knew Sri Lanka had to play well to get 388 especially batting on the last day and I thought our bowlers tried hard. We may have missed a few opportunities we thought the stumping of Dickwella could have gone our way and it didn’t. But it’s just one of those things. Sri Lanka played well to bat on the last day like that.
“We thought 388 was going to be tough especially on the last day. We had picked up three wickets yesterday so we needed to pick up seven today. It has been a sort of a rollercoaster to the motions but I am still proud the way the guys played and the way they fought. Overall I am happy the way the tour went,” he said.
Cremer said the mood in the dressing room after the match was one of disappointment. “We got together and said we should be proud of the way we pushed Sri Lanka having won the ODI series and pushed them in the Test match. It is disappointing because it could have gone either way. It would have been great to win a Test match here but it wasn’t to be.”
Cremer said that on this performance in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe would push to get more international matches now with Afghanistan and Ireland becoming full ICC members.
“Even before this Test match our MD said he wanted to push for more Test cricket and more cricket in general. We have shown that we can push big teams even away from home,” said Cremer.
“We have West Indies coming to us for two Tests in October. We got a longish break without international cricket again. We’ll hopefully get something in between if we can but we are still comfortable because we are playing in Zimbabwe and we are confident of pushing them.
“We are hoping that we get more matches against Afghanistan and Ireland and that we’ll get to play more and that they will be competitive teams.” - ST
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