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Mountaineers – 236 and 16-0 in 2 overs (Innocent Kaia 10*, Shingi Masakadza 6*)
Rhinos – 80 and (following on) 171 all out in 44.5 overs (Tarisai Musakanda 52, Kyle Jarvis 23, Neville Madziva 22; William Mashinge 5/38, Donald Tiripano 4/42, Victor Nyauchi 1/46)
Mountaineers won by 10 wickets
Mountaineers cruised to a crushing 10-wicket victory over Rhinos at Harare Sports Club on Tuesday to bring their Logan Cup defence back on track within two days.
The match had appeared fairly evenly balanced overnight, but a batting collapse by Rhinos led to their following on and being bowled out a second time to hand the reigning champions their first victory in three attempts this season.
Victor Nyauchi was the man who shattered the Rhinos first innings with four wickets for only 27 runs and put them on the slippery slope towards a humiliating two-day defeat, while Donald Tiripano and William Mashinge bowled out Rhinos the second time.
The day began with Rhinos on 59 for two wickets in their first innings in reply to Mountaineers’ total of 236 – Bothwell Chapungu had 21 and PJ Moor seven.
It was an overcast and rather windy morning at Harare Sports Club as play started, and the bowlers were able to get a lot of early movement.
Moor was not to add to his overnight score, as Nyauchi lured him into a hesitant stroke outside the off stump and he was caught at the wicket with the score on 61.
Nyasha Mayavo threw his wicket away to the second ball he faced as, failing to play himself in, he went for a big leg-side hit off Nyauchi and skied a catch to the fielder at deep square leg.
Worse was to follow, as Chapungu (27) lashed recklessly at a ball from William Mashinge outside the off stump and was easily caught at the wicket.
At 61 for five, Rhinos had in the space of five balls handed control of the match right into the hands of the jubilant Mountaineers, and the movement the bowlers got in the air did not excuse the strokes attempted.
Moor later said that he thought the overcast sky and the wind was the reason for the unusual degree of swing the bowlers obtained, coupled with the fact that their admirable accuracy gave the Rhinos batsmen no respite.
Unfortunately his players had little idea how to play the moving ball and many poor strokes were attempted when clear thinking and sound techniques were needed.
Tendai Chisoro and Neville Madziva were now batting together trying to pick up the pieces from the wreckage of the innings.
They handled the crisis well for a few overs, defending sensibly and attacking the loose balls, although Chisoro narrowly escaped being run out when a quick throw-in missed the stumps with him well out of his crease.
Then, at 80, Mashinge had Madziva groping at a ball outside his off stump and edging a catch to the keeper, the sixth wicket down.
Chisoro had looked more capable than any other batsman, yet he still had only nine runs when he miscued a stroke off Nyauchi and was caught at mid-off with the score still on 80.
Tiripano now replaced Mashinge and finished off the innings with three wickets in four balls: Brandon Mavuta patted a tame catch to backward point, Carl Mumba edged his second ball into the slips and the last man Mike Chinouya lost his leg stump first ball.
A bad collapse had become a total catastrophe as the last five wickets had fallen in 15 balls without a further run being scored.
In a little over an hour, eight wickets had gone down for just 21 runs, and not a single boundary had been struck.
This amazing sequence of events gave Mountaineers a totally unexpected option of enforcing the follow-on, having a lead of 156, and they decided to do so.
Besides Nyauchi’s four wickets, Tiripano had three and Mashinge two.
Tiripano, having finished the job, was given the first over when Rhinos went in again, although he was unable to complete the hat-trick.
Even Chapungu was very restrained the second time round, and managed to open the score with a thick edge for a single off the fifth ball.
However, he was squared up by Nyauchi’s first ball, which moved away from him, and edged it to the keeper; one run for one wicket.
Masvaure had scored three when he sliced a cut into the slips off Tiripano in the second over, but the fielder was unable to hold the difficult chance.
Slowly the batsmen, Musakanda and Masvaure, began to gain in confidence, with Musakanda in particular playing much more responsibly than he usually does.
Masvaure handled the bowling well, but when he had 14 he edged a ball from Tiripano into the slips, making the score 24 for two.
Moor came in, and he cracked his fourth ball handsomely through the covers for the first boundary of the day.
The pair survived until lunch, when the score was 35 for two wickets, with Musakanda on 15 and Moor four.
Musakanda drove the first ball after lunch, from Shingi Masakadza, safely and handsomely past mid-off for four.
He added a two and a three later in the over, and then took eight off the next over, from Tiripano.
Moor played a more cautious game, but his was the next wicket to fall, caught in the slips off Tiripano for nine, the score now being 70 for three.
Musakanda continued to attack, playing excellent strokes, and it appeared that the conditions had eased after the lunch break.
His first false shot, a snick over the slips for four, brought Musakanda his fifty off 56 balls, the total then being 82.
Once again, though, his innings ended in one stroke too many, carried away by his own extravagance when his side needed him to play a really major innings.
Going for another big hit, he miscued a ball from Mashinge and the result was a simple catch to deepish extra cover for 52; the score was 83 for four and his team was still 73 runs behind.
Nyasha Mayavo played a very defensive game, while Neville Madziva got after the bowling when he could, playing some good positive strokes until he edged a ball from Mashinge to the keeper for 22; 112 for five.
Mayavo scored 11 before Mashinge produced a fine delivery that beat his solid defence and knocked out his middle stump; 121 for six.
In 79 minutes at the crease he had given Musakanda in particular invaluable support and faced 39 balls.
Mavuta came in, slammed two fours and was then caught in the slips off Mashinge for eight on the stroke of tea, when the score was 129 for seven.
Rhinos were still 27 runs behind with Chisoro (no runs yet off 18 balls) and three tail-end batsmen to come, so the one remaining question appeared to be whether they could avoid the innings defeat.
Chisoro did not last long after the break, scoring a single and then loosely driving Mashinge to be caught at mid-on.
Jarvis and Mumba played some aggressive strokes, and Jarvis swung a ball from Nyauchi, who was probably tiring, over cow corner for six and then four to take Rhinos ahead and so avoid the innings defeat.
The partnership added an entertaining 33 until Jarvis (23) flashed outside the off stump to be caught at the wicket off Tiripano; 167 for nine.
Tiripano bowled Chinouya again to finish off the innings for 171, leaving Mumba not out with 16; Mountaineers thus needed 16 runs to win.
Tiripano finished with four for 42, but was topped by Mashinge with five for 38.
Innocent Kaia seemed ready to win the match in the first over, slashing the first ball from Mumba over the slips for four and then driving another boundary.
In the following over Shingi Masakadza hit Chisoro for a boundary to score the winning runs in two overs.
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