Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan blasted an unbeaten half-century to hand Zimbabwe a crushing nine-wicket defeat in the rain-affected third match of the Tri-Nation series in Bulawayo.

Early-morning showers forced the umpires to reduce the match to 26 overs a side, and Dilshan put Zimbabwe to bat first after winning the toss to exploit the damp wicket and outfield.

Sri Lanka's bowlers did not disappoint their skipper as Suraj Randiv took three wickets, while Jeevan Mendis and Ajantha Mendis took two apiece to restrict the hosts to a meagre total of 118.

Hamilton Masakadza scored a well-paced 62 to form the backbone of Zimbabwe's below-par total, which Sri Lanka surpassed in the 16th over to earn a bonus point.

Upul Tharanga got his side off to a flyer and shared an 86-run stand for the first wicket with his skipper.

The opener hit Chris Mpofu for three fours in the third over and added one more off Ray Price in the next.

Dilshan followed suit and blasted two boundaries off former captain Prosper Utseya in the eighth over to bring 50 up for his side.

But Tharanga (40) could not reach 50 himself, as he ran himself out in the 11th over.

His skipper, however, continued the attacking stroke play and took two fours off Graeme Cremer in the 13th over and gave the same treatment to his counterpart Elton Chigumbura in the next to reach his half-century.

He stayed unbeaten, reaching 60, alongside Dinesh Chandimal (10no) to take his side home.

Earlier, Sri Lanka drew first blood early in the innings when Brendan Taylor nicked a Dilhara Fernando outswinger straight to wicketkeeper Chandimal.

Greg Lamb (10) did not last long either and fell to Ajantha Mendis in the seventh over, leaving Masakadza and Craig Ervine to steady the ship.

Masakadza mixed aggression with patience and took the hosts to 57 for two at the end of the 10th over, but lost his partner after 12 deliveries later.

Ervine (seven) failed to read an Ajantha Mendis top-spinner and hit it to Dilshan at second slip.

Zimbabwe completely lost the momentum after this and their batting line-up fell like a pack of cards.

Charles Coventry could not repeat his heroics of the last match against India, and fell to Randiv in the 16th over after contributing just 11, while Chigumbura (one) did not trouble the scorers either and fell to Jeevan Mendis in the next.

Randiv made further inroads in the hosts' batting order and dismissed Andy Blignaut (one) and Cremer (two) in the 18th over.

Utseya (zero) too went cheaply when he missed a Jeevan Mendis leg-spinner, and Chandimal had enough time to break the bails.

Unfazed by the falling wickets, Masakadza completed his fifty in the 20th over.

But the batsman soon succumbed to the pressure caused by the low run-rate and lost his wicket to Fernando in the 25th over.