Sri Lanka defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets at the Oval, with six overs remaining, but the star of the match was the 18-year-old Zimbabwean allrounder Elton Chigumbura.

This precocious talent rescued a Zimbabwean innings that had struggled to 85-6 with a composed, high-quality innings of 57 which helped them reach a competitive total of 191.

He then ensured that Sri Lanka did not have it all their own way by dismissing three of Sri Lanka's best players, Marvan Atapattu (43), Saman Jayantha (36) and Mahela Jayawardene (28), when all were well set, with brisk, well-directed medium-pace.

In the end his efforts were in vain as the match was all but lost when he came in at number seven and there is a strong case for him batting up the order as no other Zimbabwean showed his class with the bat in this tournament.

His last three innings in ODIs have brought him 77 against Australia, 42 not out against England and 57 against Sri Lanka, thgrowing his wicket away with a slog across the line when quick runs were needed.

At 18 he shows maturity of shot selection as a batsman, allied to superb natural balance as he strokes the ball powerfully off his legs. His bowling benefits from a springy action and natural athleticism.

In the end Sri Lanka had too many class players to be in serious danger of losing the game and their middle-order all contributed nice cameos while Atapattu held the innings together with a characteristically dogged performance.

Apart from their classy middle order, the key to the Sri Lankan success was a remarkable display of catching in chilly, blustery, damp conditions a world away from Colombo.

They held everything and five catches were brilliant, cutting short several promising innings, and demonstrating the levels of athleticism and commitment required to be successful in ODIs.

The first diving catch from Sangakkara to send opener Stuart Matsikenyeri on his way for a confident 16, set the tone as he dived full length to grasp the ball in his outstretched glove.

A second spectacular catch dismissed his opening partner, Brendan Taylor, just as he was beginning to play expansively on 13, as Upul Chandana leapt high at point to parry and juggle the ball, before clutching it in triumph.

Another brilliant catch from Sangakkara dismissed Tatenda Taibu for a promising 16, the stumper diving high to his right as Maharoof's awkward bumper ricocheted from the batsman's gloves.

Equally fine was Atapattu's diving catch at mid off to take the ball inches from the ground and dismiss Tinashe Panyangara, and Prosper Utseya was caught superbly by Jayawardene running along the boundary edge.

Sri Lanka's fielding was their most powerful asset, but Nuwan Zoysa deserved his three wickets for his controlled mastery of the left-armer's art of mixing away cutters with ones moving into the pads.

A tall strong man with a fine action, he forms a dangerous opening partnership with the more established Chaminda Vaas, less threatening than Zoysa of late.

Farveez Maharoof also took three wickets but bowled with less accuracy than Zoysa and is one of the potential weak links in the Sri Lankan bowling.

The other bowler who could present England with a few loose balls on Friday is Chandana, who has the impossible task of filling in for Muttiah Muralitharan and whose leg spin is prone to bouts of inaccuracy.

Zimbabwe's top order failed again and they were heavily indebted to Chigumbura in partnerships of 35 for the seventh wicket and 64 for the eighth wicket.

His best shots came when he drove both Zoysa and Vaas majestically through midwicket for four, his head perfectly still, his bat moving straight through the line.

An even more explosive innings was played by Utseya whose audacious strokeplay in his 31 from 27 balls included a reverse-sweep off Sanath Jayasuriya and an astonishing chip over short fine leg from a Vaas full toss.

His adventurousness helped Zimbabwe add 103 runs in the last 19.1 overs and 63 in the last 9.1, to post a far more significant total than had been on the cards at 88-6 after 30 overs.

In the end the spoils went to Sri Lanka but Zimbabwe's competitive performance made the game something of a moral victory for them.

Zimbabwe: T Taibu (capt), S Matsikenyeri, BRM Taylor, V Sibanda, MA Vermuelen, DD Ebrahim, E Chigumbura, DT Hondo, T Panyangara, P Utseya, EC Rainsford.

Sri Lanka: MS Atapattu (capt), DA Gunawardene, ST Jayasuriya, KC Sangakkara, DPMD Jayawardene, TM Dilshan, WS Jayantha, UDU Chandana, WPUJC Vaas, MF Maharoof, DNT Zoysa.

14 Sep, 2004