Close Zimbabwe 184 (A Flower 42, Muralitharan 4-53) and 64-2 trail Sri Lanka 586 for 6 (Sangakkara 128, Samaraweera 123*, Tillekeratne 96) by 338 runs
scorecard

Zimbabwe wilted under the weight of Sri Lanka's massive first-innings total at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, and it will take a rest-day barbecue of Bothamesque proportions to turn the second half of this Test match into anything but a rout.

By the close of the third day, and with a bonus 24 hours to reflect on their woes, Zimbabwe were still 338 runs adrift of Sri Lanka, with only eight second innings wickets remaining. Their heaviest defeat to date came in 1999-2000 against South Africa at Harare (an innings and 219 runs) and with Muttiah Muralitharan starting to make the ball sing festive tunes, a record trouncing is not yet out of the question.

By removing Grant Flower for a post-lunch duck, Murali had shimmied past the great Malcolm Marshall into eighth place on the list of all-time Test wicket-takers (377 and climbing). Now, second-time round, he dismissed both openers for the remarkable figures of 8-7-1-2. Hamilton Mazakadza perished to a top-edged slog-sweep (40 for 1) though Trevor Gripper, who had lived up to his name with a tenacious 48-ball 10, was a trifle unfortunate to be given out caught behind (58 for 2). Nevertheless, he had misread Murali's straighter delivery for the second time in the day.

Zimbabwe had resumed their first innings at 14 for 1, but they were soon in trouble, when Chaminda Vaas picked up Stuart Carlisle (10), caught by Sanath Jayasuriya (29 for 2).

Several Zimbabwean batsmen made a decent fist of an innings, but none could go on to the big scores required. Not even Andy Flower, whose 155-minute 42 was inspirational in its grittiness. But he was unable to settle against Chaminda Vaas, who extracted a prodigious amount of reverse-swing, and Flower was lucky to survive two frenzied lbw appeals to late induckers.

The highest stand of the innings was the 41 added by Flower and Craig Wishart for the sixth wicket, but when Wishart edged Nuwan Zoysa to Tillekeratne at third slip (146 for 6) Flower's patience snapped. His uncharacteristic response was a dance down the track and a mow across the line (146 for 7), and the understated offspinner Thilan Samaraweera added another prize scalp to his collection – Brian Lara, Sourav Ganguly and ... Mohammad Al Sahariar complete the set.

Heath Streak hung around in his increasingly assured fashion, but Zimbabwe were still shot out for 184, a mammoth 402 runs adrift of Sri Lanka's total.

Teams
Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 2 Marvan Atapattu, 3 Mahela Jayawardene, 4 Russel Arnold, 5 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 6 Hashan Tillekeratne, 7 Thilan Samaraweera, 8 Muttiah Muralitharan, 9 Chaminda Vaas, 10 Nuwan Zoysa, 11 Charitha Buddika.

Zimbabwe 1 Stuart Carlisle (capt), 2 Trevor Gripper, 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Craig Wishart, 5 Grant Flower, 6 Andy Flower (wk), 7 Gavin Rennie, 8 Travis Friend, 9 Heath Streak, 10 Henry Olonga, 11 Gary Brent.

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