Zimbabwe positive after Sri Lanka's 537

Tino Mawoyo and Hamilton Masakadza counter-attacked in grand style after the early loss of Brian Chari to lead Zimbabwe's strong response to the massive total posted by Sri Lanka on the second day of the first Test at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday (October 30).

The pressure was immense on the hosts when Sri Lanka skipper Rangana Herath struck with just his fourth delivery - Chari was out LBW for 5 - but the second wicket partnership transferred the pressure back on the visitors with positive strokeplay, even thrashing debutant Lahiru Kumara for 15 runs in an over.

The shift in gears came right after Masakadza survived a dropped chance on 1 - Karunaratne failing to grab an edge at slip - and Mawoyo escaped a vociferous LBW shout on 14 off Herath. All of a sudden 47 runs were scored in a space of 35 balls to push Sri Lanka on the back foot. In the end, both Mawoyo and Masakadza carried their bats to stumps to lift the mood in the dressing room and erase a bit of fear of that mammoth total in front.

Earlier in the day, Upul Tharanga, who returned to the Test side after one year, made the most of the opportunity and anchored Sri Lanka's effort with the bat. Although the visitors made slow progress in the morning - only 80 runs came in a 30-over period, of which 30 runs were scored in the last six overs before the break - Tharanga brought up his fifty just at the stroke of Lunch.

Despite his 99-run association with debutant Asela Gunaratne coming to an end and also losing a few partners in the post-lunch session, Tharanga did not let his concentration slip as brought up a Test hundred (second overall) minutes after the Tea break. This was his first three-figure score after a gap of ten years, with his first hundred coming against Bangladesh in 2006.

With Sri Lanka crossing 500 and Tharanga completing his century, a declaration was expected, but the visitors batted on until they were bowled out for 537. Gunaratne was the other bright spot for the visitors in the afternoon as he became the 12th Sri Lankan player to record a fifty on Test debut.

Having taken three wickets on Day 1, skipper Graeme Cremer added one more to his tally when he had Dhananjaya de Silva caught at long-off. He was denied a career-best soon after when Tharanga escaped a close LBW shout after being struck on the thigh pad, failing to meet a paddle-sweep. Umpire Simon Fry ruled in favour of the batsman when replays suggested that there was no bat or glove involved and the ball would have crashed into leg stump.

Carl Mumba - the 100th Test player for Zimbabwe - had a moment to cherish when he picked up his maiden Test wicket by bouncing out Rangana Herath. However, the hosts would be worried with their poor catching form as they dropped two in addition to yesterday's four.

Now that the batsmen have made a good start, Zimbabwe would want to leave the past behind and focus on a good show in the morning session on Day 3. There are runs to be had on this pitch should the batsmen spend time, but Herath and Co. will count on a bit of experience in their bowling.

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 537 (Upul Tharanga 110*, Kusal Perera 110, Kaushal Silva 94, Dimuth Karunaratne 56; Graeme Cremer 4-142) lead Zimbabwe 88/1 (Tino Mawoyo 41*, Hamilton Masakadza 33*; Rangana Herath 1-29) by 449 runs.