Sri Lanka and red-hot Zimbabwe face off in final

Sri Lanka will battle a high-on-confidence Zimbabwe in the final on Wednesday after a comfortable 8 wicket win for the hosts on Monday. They have been the top team in the tournament so far, winning all of the games except the rain affected one-dayer against Sri Lanka.

zimbabwe: on a roll

Brendon Taylor is in excellent form, hitting a brilliant century in the dead rubber against Lanka on Monday. Chibhaba also hit a brilliant 58. After initially allowing the Sri Lankan batsmen to dominate, they came back well to restrict them to just 236, and knocking them off with ease. Their fielding has been very good, as has been the characteristic of Zimbabwe always, and Sri Lanka would be vary of them in the finals. For this time, looking at the form in the tri series, they are the underdogs and not the hosts.

Sri Lanka has looked good in parts. Their batting has been impressive with Dilshan, Tharanga and Dinesh Chandimal in good touch, Chandimal scoring an impressive century to knock India out of the tournament. Skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan has got back to form after an indifferent Twenty20 World Cup and now looks set for a big one in the final.

Zimbabwe will know Sri Lanka will come out all guns blazing after their loss. Zimbabwe’s performance is already a huge statement in the context of world cricket, and if they win, it will be a positive story for the unfortunate African side which was once one of the better powers of world cricket with the likes of the Flower brothers, Neil Johnson, Alistair Campbell, Heath Streak and Henry Olonga in their ranks. The pushovers, having performed worse than Bangladesh for most of this decade, will be favourites for a change.

Teams:

Sri Lanka: (possible) Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt.), Dinesh Chandimal, Jeewan Mendis, Chamara Kapugedera, Thilan Samaraweera, Thissara Perera, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara , Dilhara Fernando, Ajantha Mendis

Zimbabwe: (possible) Hamilton Masakadza, Brendan Taylor (wk), Charles Coventry, Greg Lamb, Craig Ervine, Tatenda Taibu, Elton Chigumbura (capt), Andy Blignaut, Graeme Cremer, Prosper Utseya, Ed Rainsford, Ray Price.