# Sri Lankan cricket team in Zimbabwe in 2004

The Sri Lanka national cricket team toured Zimbabwe in April and May 2004 to play 2 Test matches and 5 Limited Overs Internationals. The next time Zimbabwe played Sri Lanka in a Test match was in October 2016.
The series was preceded by a massive crisis rocking Zimbabwe cricket, with captain Heath Streak sacked and dropped from the team for criticising the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) and several of its policies, including the quota system for non-white cricketers and politicisation of the sport among others. Subsequently, thirteen leading Zimbabwean cricketers, all of them white, rebelled and made themselves unavailable for selection in protest against the treatment meted out to Streak by the ZCU. As a result, a second-string side led by wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu and comprising mostly black cricketers was selected to face Sri Lanka. The side proved to be clearly uncompetitive as the Lankans whitewashed them in both the ODIs and Tests by margins of 5-0 and 2-0 respectively, winning all matches by heavy margins and winning both Tests by an innings.
Due to the shambolic performance by the Zimbabweans, the ZCU scrapped all Test matches involving Zimbabwe for the rest of the year. The series marked the start of the downfall for Zimbabwe cricket which continues to this day.

## Squads

| Zimbabwe | Sri Lanka |
| Tatenda Taibu (c; wk) | Marvan Atapattu (c) |
| Dion Ebrahim | Prasanna Jayawardene (wk) |
| Elton Chigumbura | Mahela Jayawardene |
| Douglas Hondo | Kumar Sangakkara |
| Blessing Mahwire | Sanath Jayasuriya |
| Alester Maregwede | Tillakaratne Dilshan |
| Stuart Matsikenyeri | Thilan Samaraweera |
| Tawanda Mupariwa | Dinusha Fernando |
| Mluleki Nkala | Chaminda Vaas |
| Tinashe Panyangara | Muttiah Muralitharan |
| Brendan Taylor | Upul Chandana |
| Prosper Utseya | Ian Daniel |
| Mark Vermeulen | Rangana Herath |
| | Thilina Kandamby |
| | Farveez Maharoof |
| | Nuwan Zoysa |
| | Russel Arnold |

## ODI series
### 1st ODI

* 20 April 2004 Scorecard
| Zimbabwe 211/6 (50 overs) | v | Sri Lanka 144/4 (27 overs) |
| T Taibu 96* (151) DNT Zoysa 3/21 (7 overs) | | KC Sangakkara 73* (72) DT Hondo 2/34 (7 overs) |
* Sri Lanka won by 12 runs (D/L method) Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo Umpires: KC Barbour (ZIM) and DJ Harper (AUS) Player of the match: T Taibu (ZIM)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
* Sri Lankan innings reduced to 33 overs. Target 173.
* Sri Lankan innings further reduced to 27 overs. When play was halted Sri Lanka needed to have scored 133 runs to win.
* E Chigumbura, T Panyangara, BRM Taylor and P Utseya (all ZIM) made their ODI debuts.

### 2nd ODI

* 22 April 2004 Scorecard
| Zimbabwe 136 (36.4 overs) | v | Sri Lanka 139/1 (20.5 overs) |
| T Taibu 35 (57) M Muralitharan 4/32 (8.4 overs) | | WS Jayantha 74* (64) T Panyangara 1/40 (6 overs) |
* Sri Lanka won by 9 wickets Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo Umpires: KC Barbour (ZIM) and IL Howell (SA) Player of the match: WPUJC Vaas (Sri Lanka)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.

### 3rd ODI

* 25 April 2004 Scorecard
| Zimbabwe 35 (18 overs) | v | Sri Lanka 40/1 (9.2 overs) |
| DD Ebrahim 7 (10) Extras 7 WPUJC Vaas 4/11 (9 overs) | | WS Jayantha 28* (26) DT Hondo 1/11 (5 overs) |
* Sri Lanka won by 9 wickets Harare Sports Club, Harare Umpires: DJ Harper (AUS) and ID Robinson (ZIM) Player of the match: WPUJC Vaas (Sri Lanka)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
* HMRKB Herath and MF Maharoof (both SL) made their ODI debuts.
* Chaminda Vaas took 300 wickets in ODIs.
* Zimbabwe's score of 35 was the lowest ever score in ODIs till 12 February 2020. USA scored 35 against Nepal in 12 overs and hence tied the record with Zimbabwe.

### 4th ODI

* 27 April 2004 Scorecard
| Sri Lanka 223/9 (50 overs) | v | Zimbabwe 151 (43.4 overs) |
| KC Sangakkara 63 (100) ML Nkala 3/50 (10 overs) | | DD Ebrahim 50* (92) MF Maharoof 2/19 (8.4 overs) |
* Sri Lanka won by 72 runs Harare Sports Club, Harare Umpires: KC Barbour (ZIM) and IL Howell (SA) Player of the match: UDU Chandana (SL)
* Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field.
* SHT Kandamby (SL) and T Mupariwa (ZIM) made their ODI debuts.

### 5th ODI

* 29 April 2004 Scorecard
| Sri Lanka 246/7 (50 overs) | v | Zimbabwe 221/9 (50 overs) |
| RP Arnold 51* (51) T Taibu 2/42 (10 overs) | | BRM Taylor 74 (120) M Muralitharan 5/23 (10 overs) |
* Sri Lanka won by 25 runs Harare Sports Club, Harare Umpires: DJ Harper (AUS) and ID Robinson (ZIM) Player of the match: RP Arnold (SL)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.

## Test series
### 1st Test

* 6–8 May Scorecard
* Sri Lanka won by an innings and 240 runs Harare Sports Club, Harare Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) and Rudi Koertzen (SA) Player of the match: Muttiah Muralitharan
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field.
* Test debuts: Brendan Taylor, Elton Chigumbura, Prosper Utseya, Alester Maregwede, Tinashe Panyangara (all Zimbabwe), Farveez Maharoof (Sri Lanka)

### 2nd Test

* 14–17 May Scorecard
* Sri Lanka won by an innings and 254 runs Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo Umpires: Billy Bowden (NZ) and Rudi Koertzen (SA) Player of the match: Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
* Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field
* Tawanda Mupariwa (Zimbabwe) made his Test debut.