Zim vs SL Predictions

Sri Lanka are set to tour Zimbabwe from October 29 to November 27 for a two-match test series against the hosts and a triangular one-day international series featuring the West Indies. The tri-series will commence from November 14 and will consist of six round-robin fixtures with the three teams facing each other twice. The two test matches as well as the first two ODI matches will be played at the Harare Sports Club while the last four ODIs and the final will all be played at the Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo.

Read on for team previews, betting odds and prediction for Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka test series 2016….

Zimbabwe

They last played a test series this year in July-August against New Zealand and their batting performance wasn't anything more than ordinary. However, there were a few positives for them. Craig Ervine had hit a century and a fifty and scored the most runs for Zimbabwe. Sean Williams had also struck a century in the first match while Peter Moor got a fifty in the series. The hosts are going to depend on these three batsmen, especially Ervine and Williams, for taking them to good totals against Sri Lanka in this series.

They struggled big time with the ball against the Kiwis and could not bowl them out even once. Fast bowlers Michael Chinouya and Donald Tiripano as well as legspinner Graeme Cremer were the only ones who seemed capable of picking up wickets. Zimbabwe will back Chinouya and Tiripano to make the most of the new ball and get the early breakthroughs. Skipper Cremer will come into play once the ball gets a little older and softer. With 26 wickets from 13 matches, he is Zimbabwe's leading wicket-taker in tests from the current squad and is expected get more effective in the final two days of a match.

Sri Lanka

Injuries to star batsman Dinesh Chandimal and regular skipper Angelo Mathews will take some shine off of the Sri Lankan batting. However, they still have plenty of firepower in their reserves. Kusal Mendis, Kaushal Silva and Dhananjaya de Silva all had a good home test series against Australia and they will be leading the charge for Sri Lanka with the bat. Mendis and de Silva finished as the top two batsmen in that series with a hundred and a fifty each. We, therefore, predict these two to make a strong impact in this forthcoming test series.

Since the pitch at Harare is expected to become more spin-friendly from the third day onwards, it is going to be the spinners who are likely to come to the fore. Stand-in skipper Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera and Lakshan Sandakan had the Australian batsmen in all sorts of problems and these three will be the key bowlers for Sri Lanka. Herath is going to be the danger man. The left-arm spinner claimed 28 Aussie wickets in three matches and we feel he is most likely to finish as the best bowler for his side against Zimbabwe.

ZIM vs SL Test Series Betting Odds

Sri Lanka are overwhelming favorites to win the test series outright at 1.11 and 1.22 with betfair and bet365 respectively. Zimbabwe are distant outsiders with bet365 at 15.00 while betfair has them up at 2.24. A drawn series stands at 5.50 with bet365 and 2.3 with betfair.

ZIM vs SL Test Series Prediction

Zimbabwe have never won a test series against Sri Lanka. The two sides have been involved in three test series in Zimbabwe in the past with the tourists winning the last two while the first one was drawn. Sri Lanka last toured Zimbabwe in 2004 when they won the two-match test series 2-0. The first test at Harare was won by an innings and 240 runs and the second at Bulawayo by an innings and 254 runs.

Zimbabwe played their previous test series comprising of two matches against New Zealand at home and were drubbed by 0-2. The last time they had won a test series at home was in 2011 which was a one-off test match against Bangladesh. Sri Lanka hosted Australia in a three-match series recently and recorded a 3-0 clean sweep.

Zimbabwe have managed to draw only 2 test series from their last 25. And we don't even see them last till the fifth day against the Lankans, provided there are no major weather interruptions. So the possibility of a drawn series looks bleak.

Cricketbetting recommends: Back Sri Lanka to win the test series.