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Sri Lanka completed a series clean-sweep over Zimbabwe in the 5th ODI yesterday, in another match that Zimbabwe could have (should have?) won had they managed one or two more decent performances, or a little bit of killer instinct that only Robin Brown seemed to be able to instil in the side. After winning the toss and electing to field, Zimbabwe's bowlers mande full use of a pitch that was very friendly to spin and very difficult for batsmen to restrict Sri Lanka to just 152, the lowest score the Sri Lankans have so far posted against Zimbabwe. Ed Rainsford's return to form continued as he took 3/22, while Tawanda Mupariwa's 2/17 saw him become the fastest Zimbabwe to 50 ODI wickets (28 matches), beating a long-standing record held by Eddo Brandes.

That said, on a rapidly-deteriorating wicket, 152 was still going to be a hard target to reach - and as ever, the good old Zimbabwe Collapse™ appeared to put paid to Zim's chances at an early stage. Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda and Chamu Chibhabha all fell in the space of two runs, with the rest of the top order also failing to fire - it was only when Keith Dabengwa and Propser Utseya joined forces that a decent partnership managed to form. It was a partnership that at times looked good enough to win the match, with both men playing a cautious game - with the required run-rate being just 2.5/over, all-out aggression wasn't required - but when Dabengwa finally fell with the score on 130, it marked the beginning of the end, and Zim were finally bowled out for 133.

A little bit of application, and some of that elusive killed instinct, could have seen Zimbabwe win this series 3-2 - which after the horror of the opening two matches would have been no mean feat. Instead, they came close 3 times but failed to finish the job, with the issue in all those matches being the failure of all bar 2 or 3 of the batsmen to put in a decent performance. That means there's some hope for the future (and we've got a few more matches against Sri Lanka coming up in the new year to give the side the chance to go one better), but it's an old story that never seems to be addressed, which is getting beyond frustrating.

Full scorecard below the cut.
Sri Lanka 152 (48.5/50 overs; Kandamby 40, Rainsford 3/22), Zimbabwe 133 (44/50 overs; Dabengwa 39, Muralitharan 5/29). Sri Lanka win by 19 runs.

Sri Lanka innings (50 overs maximum) 
WU Tharanga 	b Rainsford 	                6 
DPM Jayawardene c Utseya b Mupariwa 	        0 
KC Sangakkara 	c Taibu b Matsikenyeri 	        28 
CK Kapugedera 	c Matsikenyeri b Mupariwa 	4 
SHT Kandamby 	run out (Taibu) 	        40 
J Mubarak 	c Matsikenyeri b Dabengwa 	16
AD Mathews 	c Masakadza b Rainsford 	31
KMDN Kulasekara b Price 	                1 
M Muralitharan 	run out (Taibu) 	        5 
BAW Mendis 	not out 	                0 
CRD Fernando 	b Rainsford 	                2 
    Extras 	(b 6, lb 2, w 11) 	        19 
    Total 	(all out; 48.5 overs) 	        152 

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Jayawardene, 3.4 ov), 2-8 (Tharanga, 6.6 ov), 
3-23 (Kapugedera, 13.1 ov), 4-62 (Sangakkara, 24.2 ov), 
5-97 (Mubarak, 38.3 ov), 6-129 (Kandamby, 45.1 ov), 
7-132 (Kulasekara, 45.6 ov), 8-147 (Muralitharan, 47.3 ov), 
9-150 (Mathews, 48.2 ov), 10-152 (Fernando, 48.5 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 	
EC Rainsford 	8.5 	3 	22 	3 	2.49 	(1w)
T Mupariwa 	7 	1 	17 	2 	2.42 	(1w)
E Chigumbura 	2 	0 	18 	0 	9.00 	(5w)
P Utseya 	10 	2 	15 	0 	1.50 	(1w)
S Matsikenyeri 	10 	0 	29 	1 	2.90 	(2w)
RW Price 	7 	0 	28 	1 	4.00 	(1w)
KM Dabengwa 	4 	0 	15 	1 	3.75 	


Zimbabwe innings (target: 153 runs from 50 overs) 
H Masakadza 	c Mendis b Fernando 	        7
V Sibanda 	lbw b Muralitharan 	        5
T Taibu 	lbw b Fernando 	                14
CJ Chibhabha 	lbw b Muralitharan 	        1
S Matsikenyeri 	lbw b Muralitharan 	        4
E Chigumbura 	b Muralitharan 	                5
KM Dabengwa 	b Kulasekara 	                39
P Utseya 	lbw b Kulasekara 	        31
RW Price 	lbw b Muralitharan 	        3
T Mupariwa 	c Mendis b Kulasekara 	        0
EC Rainsford 	not out 	                0
	    Extras 	(lb 4, w 18, nb 2) 	24
	    Total 	(all out; 44 overs) 	133

Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Sibanda, 3.4 ov), 2-25 (Masakadza, 4.4 ov), 
3-27 (Chibhabha, 5.4 ov), 4-40 (Matsikenyeri, 7.4 ov), 
5-49 (Chigumbura, 9.3 ov), 6-58 (Taibu, 12.1 ov), 
7-130 (Dabengwa, 40.2 ov), 8-133 (Utseya, 42.5 ov), 
9-133 (Mupariwa, 42.6 ov), 10-133 (Price, 43.6 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 	
CRD Fernando 	9 	0 	33 	2 	3.66 	(2nb, 3w)
KMDN Kulasekara 9 	2 	14 	3 	1.55 	(1w)
M Muralitharan 	10 	2 	29 	5 	2.90 	(3w)
BAW Mendis 	9 	0 	23 	0 	2.55 	(2w)
J Mubarak 	4 	0 	14 	0 	3.50 	
AD Mathews 	2 	0 	13 	0 	6.50 	
SHT Kandamby 	1 	0 	3 	0 	3.00