Pro50 Championship: Rhinos pip Eagles, Rocks clobber Mountaineers

Rhinos – 220 all out in 45.3 overs (Johnathan Campbell 51, Tashinga Musekiwa 37, Takudzwanashe Kaitano 36; Tanaka Chivanga 6/31, Kadeem Alleyne 2/61, Tawanda Dzikiti 1/35)

Alliance Health Eagles – 210 all out in 47.3 overs (Nick Welch 91, Tadiwanashe Marumani 29, Hamid Ali 18; Johnathan Campbell 5/28, Michael Chinouya 2/59, Neville Madziva 1/18)

Rhinos won by 10 runs

Despite a brilliant six-wicket haul by Tanaka Chivanga and an outstanding innings of 91 from Nick Welch, Alliance Health Eagles still went down to Rhinos by 10 runs in a Pro50 Championship match at Kwekwe Sports Club on Saturday.

Rhinos struggled for most of their innings after being put in to bat.

Their brightest period was at the start, when an aggressive Takudzwanashe Kaitano and a cautious Prince Masvaure put on 46 for the first wicket in less than 10 overs.

Then Kaitano became the first of four wickets to fall quite quickly after he was caught in the covers off Faraz Akram for 36 off 33 balls.

Masvaure soon followed for 11 off 32 in contrast, and was quickly followed by Glamorgan professional Kiran Carlson for nine and Nyasha Mayavo for four, to make the score 79 for four in the 17th over.

All three fell to the pace of Chivanga, who was having a golden spell with the ball.

Tarisai Musakanda played a steady game for a while to try to repair the damage, but in the end he skyed a catch to deep backward point off the West Indian pace bowler Kadeem Alleyne for 23, to make the score 92 for five in the 20th over.

Recovery was on its way, though, in the form of Campbell and Neville Madziva, who put their heads down and worked hard to add 58 runs for the sixth wicket.

Chivanga then returned to trap Madziva lbw for 29, scored off 48 balls, but Tashinga Musekiwa stayed in with Campbell until the latter reached his fifty and then skyed a catch to midwicket at 185 for seven.

He was to be the Rhinos’ highest scorer with 51 off 71 balls.

The later batters did not have much to offer, but Musekiwa took the score past 200 before Chivanga returned for his final spell.

In successive deliveries he had Musekiwa caught at the wicket off an intended pull for 37 off 37 balls and then removed the last man, Michael Chinouya, to bring the innings to a close for 220, with four overs and three balls left unbowled.

Chivanga finished with the fine figures of six wickets for 81 runs in 8.3 overs, while Alleyne took two wickets but was expensive, conceding 61 runs from his eight overs.

Eagles had none too difficult a target to chase, and they opened their batting with Welch and Tadiwanashe Marumani.

These two laid into the opening attack of Carl Mumba and Chinouya with great vigour, racing to 65 in seven overs before Chinouya broke the stand by having Marumani caught at the wicket for 29, scored off only 18 balls.

Welch continued to bat in fine form, but had difficulty in finding a partner to stay with him, as Kudzai Maunze went for six and Chamu Chibhabha for five.

Hamid Ali scored 18, taking the score to 110 before he was out.

Alleyne was sixth to go at 135, followed by Akram (4) at 152, with Campbell playing the role of demon bowler.

The tail was now exposed, but Welch was still there, seemingly Eagles’ only hope now of achieving the victory that had looked reasonably certain earlier.

Chivanga proved to be a stubborn partner, holding his end up for eight overs and scoring useful runs as well, before he swept at a straight ball from Campbell and was bowled for 14 – 185 for eight, with Welch now on 91.

But that was where it ended, as in the next over Masvaure bowled him out for that score with an inswinger, and it was game over for Eagles.

Welch had batted superbly for his 91, scored off 106 balls and containing two sixes and eight fours.

The last pair of Tapiwa Mufudza and Tawanda Dzikiti had 30 runs to make to win in 10 overs, and they put up a great fight, scoring 20 of them until, with 15 balls in hand and just when it looked possible that they might pull off the task after all, the innings came to an end at 210.

Mufudza, anxious to score a rare four, slogged a ball from Madziva to leg, but could only give Carlson a straightforward catch.

He had made nine and Dzikiti 10 not out.

Campbell finished with the excellent figures of five for 28 off his 10 overs, while Chinouya had two for 59.

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Southern Rocks – 304-7 in 50 overs (Richmond Mutumbami 73, Tafadzwa Tsiga 67, Cephas Zhuwao 54; Shingi Masakadza 3/44, Donald Tiripano 2/56, Clive Chitumba 1/29)

Mountaineers – 148 all out in 30 overs (Joylord Gumbie 40, Kevin Kasuza 32*, Tinashe Muchawaya 27; Sydney Murombo 3/25, William Mashinge 3/41, Tendai Chisoro 2/47)

Southern Rocks won by 156 runs

A typical rollicking innings from Cephas Zhuwao and a remarkable opening bowling spell from Sydney Murombo were the main features of Southern Rocks’ fine victory by 156 runs over Mountaineers in the Pro50 Championship at Mutare Sports Club on Saturday.

Rocks, bottom of the standings, put Mountaineers in to bat on winning the toss.

Ben Curran made 10 off 31 balls, but Zhuwao made up for this at the other end with another blistering innings, racing to 54 off 32 balls.

He hit a six and 10 fours, but was then caught at the wicket off Donald Tiripano, with the score 97 for two wickets, a fine start.

Brian Mudzinganyama quickly followed him the same way for 23, but then came the match-winning partnership that Rocks needed.

Richmond Mutumbami and Tafadzwa Tsiga came together and with fine batting put on 104 runs for the fourth wicket in only 19 overs.

Tsiga, the more aggressive of the two, scored 67 off 55 balls, with four sixes and four fours, taking the score to 202 before he was bowled by Clive Chitumba in the 37th over.

Mutumbami now took over the role of main scorer, helped by Blessed Muzite with 14, and batted on until he lost his wicket to Shingi Masakadza for 74 (97 balls, eight fours) in the final race for runs in the death overs.

The score was then 268 for seven, but in the 3.3 overs that remained Tendai Chisoro hit out brilliantly and made 27 not out off 15 balls, helped by 11 not out from Travor Mutsamba.

This last burst took the score to 304 for seven wickets, a fine total.

Masakadza did the best work with the ball, taking three wickets for 44 runs, while Tiripano had two for 56.

Credit should also go to Victor Nyauchi, who opened the bowling to Zhuwao, and yet still managed to emerge with the most economical figures, one for 35 off eight overs.

A devastating opening spell by Murombo quickly ensured that Mountaineers would have no chance of challenging their big total.

In his first two overs he picked up three wickets for five runs, three of them wides – Chitumba bowled, PJ Moor lbw and Timycen Maruma bowled, all without scoring.

Shortly afterwards Mutsamba had Spencer Magodo caught at the wicket and Mountaineers were shattered on 17 for four wickets, all four batters out failing to score.

Joylord Gumbie was playing a fighting innings at the other end, though, and Tiripano now came in to help him.

They took the score to 58 in the 14th over before Tiripano fell lbw to William Mashinge for 16, bringing in Kevin Kasuza, batting at number seven.

At 78, Gumbie’s courageous innings of 40 came to an end, caught by Curran off Mashinge after facing 56 balls.

This started a minor collapse, as in the next two overs both Masakadza and Nyauchi went without scoring, leaving the Mountaineers innings in tatters at 80 for eight wickets.

They still had some fight left, though, as Kasuza batted well and Muchawaya hit out boldly to score 27 off 18 balls, including three sixes and a four.

Masekesa as last man made seven, but there the innings closed at 148 after only 30 overs, with Kasuza not out with 32.

All five bowlers used took one or more wickets, with Murombo earning the reward of three for 25, while Mashinge took three for 41 and Chisoro two for 47.

Rocks after a disastrous start to the tournament can now celebrate their second victory in seven matches, by the large and encouraging margin of 156 runs.