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The unexpected never happened as pathetic Zimbabwe were for the second time put in their place by the unbeaten Sri Lankans who won by the comfortable margin of 79 runs Tuesday to make sure of playing in Sunday's final in the Khaleej Times Trophy here at the Sharjah Stadium.

Requiring 251 for victory to have an outside chance of making the final, Zimbabwe, finished at 171 for eight in their allotted 50 over. As it happened like in their two previous outings, Zimbabwe batsmen from the outset never appeared to be with any chance of upsetting the applecart.

Apart from the second wicket stand between Stuart Carlisle (37) and Trevor Gripper (26) that realized 61 runs, Zimbabwe's batting woes continued as wickets fell at regular interval.

Although Doug Marillier, batting lower down, managed an unbeaten 52, hitting two fours off the last two deliveries to reach the landmark, there was no resistance at the other end.

The Sri Lankans always looked in command and bowled tightly without ever looking menacing and were never threatened by an inept and out of depth Zimbabwe batting for whom the losing streak extended to 15 and could become 16 Wednesday when they face Pakistan unless the latter give a similar performance as that which handed Bangladesh their most memorable triumph in 1999 World Cup.

In an uninteresting tie that provided hardly any worthwhile individual feat, Sri Lanka's stylish batsman Mahela Jayawardena was named Man-of-the Match for his 63 that proved to the highest score of the match.

Earlier, diminutive Jayawardena (63) and reliable Russel Arnold (55) put on 111 for the fourth wicket to steer Sri Lanka from possible low score against the modest Zimbabwe bowling resources.

The two joined in the rescue act at the total of 62 for with three skipper Sanath Jayasuriya (25), Avishka Gunawardena (14) and Marvan Atapattu (9) back in the dressing room.

Slowly and gradually the two got on top of the Zimbabwe attack and reached fifties before throwing their wickets when centuries were up for grabs. Arnold hooked straight into the throat of Brent off Streak. Jayawardena holed out to Gripper off Marillier.

For Arnold it was his first dismissal in three outings. Of the later batsmen, only Kumar Sangakkara made any significant contribution in his 35 before losing his stumps aiming for a big hit off medium pacer Gary Brent, the best of Zimbabwe bowlers.

Although former skipper Heath Streak picked up four wickets including both the openers he proved expensive and conceded 59 runs from his quota of 10 overs, his first over costing 14 runs.

© Dawn