London: Sri Lanka overcame a stubborn performance by Zimbabwe to register a four-wicket win in the Group D league match of the ICC Champions Trophy One-day cricket tournament at the Oval in London on Tuesday.

Having sent Zimbabwe in and bowling them out for a modest 191, the Lankan chase was set back by early loss of their openers and some fine bowling by the young African team.

But the 1996 World Cup winners were bailed out by a steady innings of 43 by captain Marvan Atapattu and a 42-run fifth-wicket stand between him and vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene (28) to be home with 37 balls to spare.

Zimbabwe, who lost their other group match to hosts England, are now out of the reckoning for the semifinal berth which will be decided between England and Sri Lanka when they clash at Rose Bowl, Southampton, on Friday.

Despite the loss, the young bunch led by 20-year old Tatenda Taibu can take heart from Tuesday's performance.

Eighteen-year old Elton Chigumbura stood out with his all-round talent. He smacked the Sri Lankan bowling without fear for a sparkling 57 off 71 balls with six fours when his team batted in gloomy and overcast conditions.

The Zimbabwean total, which was 85 for six at one stage, owed very much to Chigumbura who also shared a vital 64-run partnership with Prosper Utseya for the eighth wicket.

The Mashonaland player then returned to scalp three for 37 -- all prize scalps of Atapattu, Saman Jayantha and Jayawardene -- to put the skids on the Lankan chase.

Zimbabwe faced a must win situation as they entered the match. But the top order batsmen, drawn from a pool of second string cricketers following the axing of 15 rebel players earlier this year, did not seem to belong to this level of the game.

Chigumbura, however, proved his technique and staying power by facing 71 balls and the counter attack he launched in the company of Utseya caught the Asian rivals off guard.

Nineteen-year old Utseya struck 31 off 28 balls with five fours and was even more daring than Chigumbura as when he moved across to the experienced left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas and chipped him over the short fine-leg for a boundary.

But for the pair's audacious batting, the Zimbabweans would have been in far more perilous situation.

Sent in to bat in gloomy and overcast conditions, they lost six wickets for less than 100 runs and another double digit score line appeared to be in the offing in this 12-nation tournament which has been marked by lop-sided contests and poor crowd turnout so far.

Nuwan Zoysa (3-19) and Farvez Maharoof (3-39) ripped through the Zimbabwean top order even as the former became the eighth Sri Lankan to claim 100 wickets in One-day Internationals when he had Tinashe Panyangara caught by skipper Marvan Atapattu.