The first three Zimbabwe-Sri Lanka one-day internationals in retrospect

Even now that they have started winning the toss again, Zimbabwe have not been able to get their act together on the cricket field. After three one-day internationals out of five against Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe have lost two and put themselves out of the series already, while one was left drawn due to rain.

Our weakened bowling attack is doing its job, most of the time, as well as can be expected, while the fielding is generally good if not at its best. It is the batting which is letting the side down for one match after another - the middle order this time. Our openers have done a fine job - up to a point - with opening stands in successive matches of 51, 91 and 81.

It did look rather risky, in one sense, sending in two out-of-form batsmen to open the Zimbabwean batting in the one-day matches, but at the start of the series we only had one in-form batsman and he was also captain and wicket-keeper. But Grant Flower has found his strokes and some confidence, if not his big scores, while the much-maligned Alistair Campbell has worked hard to keep his concentration and play down the line, and they have given the team three excellent starts. The only complaint is that so far neither has gone on to make a really big score or bat through the innings, as has been shown to be necessary.

The players have been full of praise for the fine pitch and practice facilities in Bulawayo, although the press are less than enthusiastic about that venue. The nets in Harare have been too damp and the pitch too liable to favour the bowlers, and it is felt that the sad death of the head groundsman there during the Australian tour has had a very detrimental effect on the general preparation.

The Bulawayo crowds were disappointing, though, as was the midweek crowd in Harare, and it remains to be seen how many will turn out for the final matches this coming weekend. Poor marketing by the local administrators has been blamed, as has the lack of what is perceived by the public to be 'attractive' opposition, as the South Africans and Australians were. There have also been complaints from several sources that prices are too high for the one-day internationals, especially for children. Perhaps also three tours in such a short period of time represent something of an overkill for the public, especially as the national team has been consistently losing.

Zimbabwe were further handicapped in this series by the absence of Neil Johnson, who has flown to Durban to see his long-standing physio in an attempt to get him fit for bowling again in the triangular tournament in South Africa starting next month. With Streak and Strang still out and Blignaut also injured, Zimbabwe were lacking four probable bowlers.

The Zimbabwean bowlers began the series badly, bowling too short and wide to Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana, two batsmen who thrive on that type of rubbish. They ran up 96 together at a rate of eight an over, but it was in fact a very creditable performance for the Zimbabweans to pull back from that sort of onslaught to restrict them in the end to 284 for nine. Russel Arnold was the only batsman able to dominate for long after that.

Zimbabwe made a strong challenge from the start, despite the difficulty of a target of 285. Grant Flower hit four off-side boundaries in the first five overs and dominated the opening partnership, while Campbell was beginning to play his shots confidently when the rain came. Zimbabwe were confident they could have won this match in the end, and they were right. They could - but, going by events in the next two matches, they probably wouldn't. Had 25 overs been bowled, they might have done well enough to win on the Duckworth-Lewis system, but that is speculation and in such situations that sort of resolution to a match is always unsatisfactory.

The second match will always be remembered as the one Zimbabwe should have won, most of all by the players themselves. They bowled and fielded brilliantly to reduce Sri Lanka to 103 for seven, only for Arnold to score an outstanding century and get enough help from his last three tail-end partners to set a target of 213. No other Sri Lankan batsman reached 20, so without him it would have been no contest. And all this on a fine batting pitch. It is worth repeating that the bowlers and fielders did a superb job, although some of the Sri Lankan top order had nothing to be proud of.

Campbell and Flower gave Zimbabwe an excellent start, both utterly determined not to give it away, and put on 91 together in almost half the overs. After Flower fell, perhaps unwisely trying to reach his fifty with a six, Andy Flower came in and immediately stepped up the scoring rate with some good strokes. It was his dismissal, once again, that proved to be the turning point.

Madondo was quite unable to get the score moving, managing only four runs off 22 balls, and this put pressure on Campbell, who hit out after reaching his fifty and was caught at midwicket, an almost identical dismissal to Andy Flower's. The required scoring rate was over five an over, and there was some pressure on Goodwin and Guy Whittall, who had to try and settle in and keep the rate up at the same time. They did not quite succeed in that, and both fell trying to accelerate; the later batsmen, coming in with an escalating rate required, were not up to the task. I wondered, though, when Gavin Rennie was seventh out with 18 needed off the last two overs, whether it might have been an idea to send in Olonga next; some big hits were clearly needed and if he stayed he would be more likely to reach the boundary than Brent or Andrew Whittall. Zimbabwe needed somebody like Andy Blignaut at this stage, as no big hits were forthcoming from the others, nor did they look like coming.

The third match was another in which Zimbabwe were fully competitive for most of the time, until the middle order threw away their chances with a vengeance. Many of their batsmen must have finished the day feeling bitterly disappointed with themselves, and it is to be hoped they will be strong enough mentally to put their failures right over the weekend, in the two final matches of the series.

Andy Flower won the toss for the third time in the series and followed the usual policy adopted by both sides throughout the tour by putting the opposition in to bat. It was expected that there would be a bit of life in the pitch during the first half-hour or so, otherwise things were expected to be pretty even for both teams. So it proved, and Atapattu played a valuable innings for Sri Lanka with his 69. Arnold this time was kept under restraint as the bowlers took care to give him no room to drive off the front foot, and he eventually lost his wicket in frustration.

The 200 did not come up until the 46th over, and with the dismissal of Chandana and Dilshan soon afterwards and only tail-enders left, it seemed that Zimbabwe had the innings all but sewn up. Possibly there was a little over-confidence, but if so it was soon shattered as Vaas and Wickramasinghe unleashed a brief but blistering assault on the bowlers. Vaas hit 19 off 9 balls, Wickramasinghe 11 off 4 balls, and suddenly the total was up to 248.

Grant Flower and Alistair Campbell countered with their most impressive opening stand of the series, keeping well in touch with the required run rate as they scored at five an over. Both drove with particular fluency and confidence, and it was hard to understand how they had scored so few runs hitherto during the season. Then immediately after the drinks break the great disaster (latest edition began).

It began with a run-out, a method of dismissal that the team seems to have made all its own this season. It appeared that Grant Flower played a ball towards midwicket, called for a single and then changed his mind, but Campbell was committed. With a dismissal inevitable, Campbell ran through and sacrificed his wicket, a noble gesture. For a while it seemed as if Flower was going to make amends for his friend's dismissal, but then with the score on 100 he was again out just short of his fifty.

Then came the march of the lemmings, as one Zimbabwean batsman after another hurled himself to self-destruction over the cliff. Andy Flower most uncharacteristically placed his second ball in the hands of deep square leg. In came Stuart Carlisle, replacing Madondo in the team and getting an unprecedented chance to bat at number five in an international match. Unfortunately on this occasion he may have been in the right place but it was the wrong time; it was his first match this season against the Sri Lankans and he had to come in and face Muralitharan. The top-spinner quickly did him and he was caught at the wicket.

The last hope was the partnership between Goodwin and Guy Whittall, and when it ended, with Goodwin superbly caught low down at midwicket by pace bowler Wickramasinghe, only Whittall showed any fight and there were several further soft dismissals before the innings came to its ignominious end.

Sri Lanka were now two-nil up with two matches to play and Zimbabwe could not now win the series. Two victories over the weekend would allow them to square the series, but the way the middle order has batted tilts the odds against them. There will have to be a vast improvement in that department if they are not to suffer the humiliation of four defeats. Surely they cannot continue to bat as badly as all that!