Zimbabwe beat Sri Lanka by 8 wickets

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP):

An unbeaten 119 from opener Brendan Taylor led Zimbabwe to an eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, in the last preliminary match of the tri-nation one-day series yesterday.

Sri Lanka set Zimbabwe a target of 237 and the host's batsmen responded with a new sense of self-belief and composure under new coach Alan Butcher, reaching 240-2 in 47.5 overs.

They had dismissed Sri Lanka for 236, also in 47.5 overs, after the Sri Lankans enjoyed an opening stand of 122.

The teams will meet again in the final tomorrow, having already eliminated India.

"In the final I will be happy if we bat first," Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss said. "If you look at today's game, we could have made 300 if the middle order had applied itself."

Brilliant stroke play

In-form Taylor faced 136 balls, blasting eight boundaries and a six in an innings full of brilliant stroke play and timing. It was his second ODI hundred after an unbeaten 118 against Bangladesh last November.

"When he first came here, I thought he was a bit overweight," Butcher said of Taylor. "He had the talent, but his technique was the problem in the past. He has worked hard to correct it, especially when we were in the West Indies. He is now getting his rewards."

Taylor was the series' leading runscorer. His Man-of-the-Match award yesterday was his third of the series.

"I am just trying to keep a clear head," Taylor said. "It's nice to spend some time at the crease and get some runs. I didn't want to put pressure on myself because the bowlers had bowled well. Our seamers made our job easier by keeping the score under 300."

Earlier, Zimbabwe's bowlers recovered from an early bashing after half-centuries by openers Dilshan (78) and Upul Tharanga (69) put Sri Lanka in the driving seat. The two punished the host's wayward bowling, with seamers Elton Chigumbura and Chibhabha struggling. The ruthless Dilshan faced 66 balls, cracked nine boundaries and two sixes, while Tharanga's 69 came off 97 balls in their best opening stand of the series.

The partnership yielded 122 off 123 deliveries from 20.2 overs until Dilshan missed a straight Prosper Utseya delivery to be stumped by wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu.

From there, Zimbabwe managed to staunch the run flow, and Sri Lanka's threat to make close to 300 diminished as offspinners Utseya and Ray Price and leg-spinner Graeme Cremer kept the batsmen in check with good variation.

'It's nice to spend some time at the crease and get some runs. I didn't want to put pressure on myself because the bowlers had bowled well.'