da jogodeouro： From 12 to 14 November the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, now known as the CFXAcademy, played the touring Sri Lanka team at Kwekwe Sports Club
Gwynne Jones13-Nov-1999From 12 to 14 November the Zimbabwe Cricket Academy, now known as the CFXAcademy, played the touring Sri Lanka team at Kwekwe Sports Club. Academydirector Gwynne Jones sends us his report.Day 1Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat. On a dry wicket with dead grasspatches Sri Lanka decided to bat. They had stated beforehand that the wicketwould not last two days.The Academy bowling was wayward to start with, resulting in an onslaughtfrom their openers — 60 off the first ten overs. However Gary Brent bowled anexcellent line outside off stump to a seven-two field. With uneven bounce SriLanka were not prepared to take chances but wickets began to fall. Inmid-afternoon they had been reduced to 230 for 8 before our bowlers began totire. Their last two wickets added 67 runs, enabling them to finish on 302 in91.5 overs. The Academy lost one wicket before the close.Day 2The pitch was even drier and there were visible signs of it breaking up. Theyoung Academy students could not handle the uneven bounce and the spin andguile of the Sri Lankan bowlers. Greg lamb and Dirk Viljoen batted well in themiddle order but there was little resistance from the other batsmen. TheAcademy were bowled out for 123. It was not surprising that Sri Lanka enforcedthe follow-on as the pitch would not have provided them with any worthwhilebatting practice for the Test.The Academy’s batting crumbled completely in their second innings againstsome world-class bowling. Some of Muralitharan’s off-spinners were completelyunplayable. The pressure exerted by their bowlers forced some bad shots butalso some very poor umpiring decisions. The Academy were bowled out for 46,losing by an innings and 123 runs.Notable PerformancesGary Brent bowled immaculately. His line was excellent just outside off stumpto a seven-two field set by the captain Viljoen. His stock ball was theinswinger but he has now developed the outswinger which he can bowl at will.He has shown in this match that he is a much better bowler than he was beforegoing to England.Greg Lamb was the pick of the batsmen. He has time to play his shots andwas very impressive before being adjudged lbw when there was a clear nickaudible at the boundary edge.