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Southern Rocks – 272-9 in 93.3 overs (Innocent Kaia 81, Roy Kaia 57, Richmond Mutumbami 37; Vincent Masekesa 3/71, Victor Nyauchi 2/30, Donald Tiripano 2/42)
Mountaineers –
Day 1 – Stumps
The Kaia brothers, opener Innocent, and number four batsman Roy helped Southern Rocks to recover from a poor start on Tuesday and finish with a score of 272 runs for nine wickets against Mountaineers.
The newly acknowledged Logan Cup champions Rocks were playing the past champions Mountaineers at Harare Sports Club in their final Logan Cup match of the season.
Rocks won the toss and decided to bat on a warm sunny day, but they got off to a rocky start.
They lost their first wicket without a run on the board as Donald Tiripano trapped Brian Mudzinganyama lbw with his first ball.
The batsmen struggled for runs against the fine bowling of Tiripano and Victor Nyauchi, and only eight runs had been made in eight overs when Tiripano had Tadiwanashe Marumani caught in the slips by Tony Munyonga for three off 21 balls.
The Kaia brothers settled in and saw off the opening bowlers, and then played a steady accumulative game with excellent concentration.
They were still together at lunch time when the score was 70 for two wickets; Innocent had 31 and Roy 30.
After lunch Roy began to open out and played the bowling very well, reaching his fifty off 93 balls.
This inspired Innocent to play his shots more readily, and he was on 48 when Wellington Masakadza deceived Roy completely with a well-flighted ball that trapped him lbw for a very fine inning of 57 off 99 balls; 115 for three.
Richmond Mutumbami came in and saw Innocent reach his fifty off 103 balls – as usual, his off-side driving was his most attractive virtue.
He celebrated his fifty by lofting a ball from Masakadza over long-on for six, but then played one or two loose strokes before settling down again.
Innocent made 81 before the leg-spinner Vincent Masekesa found the edge of his bat and had him caught at slip for 81; 139 balls, with 11 fours and a six.
Mutumbami and Tafadzwa Tsiga carried the score to 198 for four at tea, when they had 37 and 13 respectively.
Soon after the interval, Mutumbami was caught in the deep off Masekesa for 39.
William Mashinge was in an aggressive mood and soon hit three boundaries.
He lost Tsiga for 25, slicing a catch to backward point off Masekesa, and Tendai Chisoro hit a four and was then bowled by Masakadza, to make the score 239 for seven.
This persuaded Mashinge to take a more cautious approach, while Patrick Mambo played a rather uncertain game before being caught at the wicket playing rather tentatively outside his off stump at a ball from Nyauchi for 12; 264 for eight.
The day closed when Nyauchi struck again to have Mashinge caught in the slips for 37, a valuable inning, making the score at the close 272 for nine wickets, with Andre Odendaal not out on five.
Congratulations are due to Mountaineers for bowling 93.3 overs in the six hours’ play, without any need for overtime, a positive but all too rare achievement, helped by making good, purposeful use of their spinners.
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Tuskers – 114 all out in 33 overs (Milton Shumba 30, Peter Moor 25, Craig Ervine 15; Brad Evans 5/25, Tanaka Chivanga 3/14, Tapiwa Mufudza 1/0)
Eagles – 165-5 in 42.3 overs (Regis Chakabva 51*, Faraz Akram 34*, Rodney Mupfudza 24; Arnold Shara 2/14, Luke Jongwe 1/27, Ainsley Ndlovu 1/30)
Day 1 – Stumps: Eagles lead by 51 runs
Brad Evans took five wickets for 25 runs as Eagles took a strong hold on their Logan Cup match against Tuskers at Old Hararians Sports Club on Tuesday, bowling them out for 114 in their first innings.
Tuskers batted on winning the toss and were in trouble from the start.
They lost their openers, Brian Chari (5) and Tanunurwa Makoni (0), with only eight runs on the board.
Craig Ervine played a solid game for 15, and with PJ Moor attacking the bowling the score was taken to 49 before Moor was out for 25 off 24 balls.
Ervine quickly followed, and with Luke Jongwe out for four, five wickets were down for 54 runs.
Milton Shumba stayed in for the fight, but he had little support from the later batsmen, although Ainsley Ndlovu scored 11.
Shumba was the ninth batsman out for 30, with the score at 109 for nine.
Tuskers were eventually bowled out for only 114.
Most of the damage was done by the two seamers, Tanaka Chivanga and Evans.
Evans took five wickets for 25 in 10 overs, while Chivanga claimed three for 14 runs in only six overs.
Eagles in turn lost Kudzai Maunze without scoring, lbw to Jongwe, and Gareth Chirawu made 22.
The top order did not have a good day, as Rodney Mupfudza was out for 24 and Tino Mutombodzi for 11, making the score 65 for four wickets, two of them to the medium-paced Arnold Shara, making his début.
Regis Chakabva and Wessly Madhevere improved the situation by adding 30 for the fifth wicket, before Madhevere was out for 17.
Then came a more positive stand between Chakabva and Faraz Akram, who in 16 overs put on 70 runs for the seventh wicket, taking Eagles into the lead with a good advantage over Tuskers.
Chakabva finished the day on 51 not out, off 67 balls, and Akram on 34 not out, the two highest scores of the day.
Eagles therefore finished the day with a lead of 51 runs with four wickets in hand.
ZIMBABWE CRICKET