Ervine's unbeaten ton helps Zimbabwe win Day 1 honours of Colombo Test

A brilliant unbeaten century from Craig Ervine helped Zimbabwe reach 344-8 on the opening day of the lone Test against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Friday.

After winning the toss, the visitors were in a spot of bother on a flat pitch as they lost the top-order cheaply and at one stage were 78-4.

Ervine (151*) however stood solid at one end and had crucial partnerships with Sikander Raza (36) and Malcolm Waller (36) to pull his team out of hot waters.

Towards the end of the day's play, the left-handed batsman stitched solid stands with the lower order to help his team past 300.

His unbeaten partnership with Donald Tiripano (24*) remains the team's best ninth-wicket stand against the hosts in a Test match.

Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers as he picked up four wickets for 106 runs in his 30 overs.

Asela Gunaratne scalped two wickets while Lahiru Kumara and Dilruwan Perera picked a wicket each.