Cricketers of the Week: 16th July to 23rd July

#5 Sikandar Raza

Sikandar Raza made Zimbabwe proud with a brilliant knock of 127 (to add to his 36 in the first innings), where he took Zimbabwe from 23 for 4 to 306 for 8 in the second innings of the lone Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Eventually, Zimbabwe were all out for 377, giving themselves an unbelievably good chance to win the away Test, if not for a breath-taking chase by Sri Lanka.

Raza added 86 for the sixth wicket with Moor and then a brilliant 144 with Waller for the seventh wicket that ensured Zimbabwe had plenty in the bank to defend.

The Sri Lankan chase eventually managed a scarcely believable 391 but that doesn’t take away anything from the quality of Raza.

On a turning track, it took a miracle for Zimbabwe to lose the game despite Cremer’s fight with the ball on the Final day. Craig Ervine too was brilliant with a fighting knock of 160 in Zimbabwe’s first innings that took them to 356 all out, setting up the match nicely.