Gladiators beat Uprising to take big step towards NPL title

Uprising – 320-6 in 45 overs (Tariro Makauyo 76, Brian Bennett 57, Ryan Kamwemba 52; Tony Munyonga 3/32, Munashe Zata 2/81, Masimba Marovatsanga 1/43)

Gladiators – 322-5 in 42 overs (Tony Munyonga 85, Clive Madande 73*, Ashley Mufandauya 39; Luke Jongwe 2/81, Brian Bennett 1/29, Takunda Manyama 1/63)

Gladiators won by five wickets

Fine batting from Tony Munyonga and Clive Madande gave Gladiators a great victory over Uprising at Old Hararians Sports Club on Wednesday as they took a giant step towards retaining the National Premier League (NPL) title.

This was the match everybody had been waiting for, as these two teams for most of the tournament to date had been running neck and neck, winning every game until Uprising fell to Takashinga Patriots 1 last week.

Uprising, put in to bat, made a very good show, with Tariro Makauyo (76) and Ryan Kamwemba (52) forming an opening partnership of 125 in 20 overs.

A third fifty came from Brian Bennett, 57, while Craig Ervine and Ryan Burl scored 36 and 34 respectively, Burl’s spectacular innings at the death coming off only 12 balls with four sixes and a four.

Munyonga did some fine bowling to take three wickets for 32 runs very economically, off seven overs, and the total was a challenging 320 for six wickets.

Gladiators were up for the challenge, although their openers both went by the time 52 was on the board.

Then came Munyonga’s dynamic innings of 85 off 68 balls (four sixes, seven fours), and he shared a third-wicket partnership of 124 with Ashley Mufandauya who made 39.

Munyonga fell at 200 for four in the 28th over, but his wicket only brought in Madande, who went on to finish the job, smiting 73 not out off only 46 balls (three sixes, seven fours).

Gladiators swept home with three overs to spare, a glorious triumph for them.

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Mutare Sports Club – 203-7 in 42 overs (Spencer Magodo 62, Nigel Bonyongwe 41, Kudzai Sauramba 40; Tanaka Chivanga 3/60, Richard Ngarava 2/22)

Takashinga Patriots 1 – 190 all out in 36.4 overs (Timycen Maruma 72, Blessing Muzarabani 27, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe 25; Tendai Chatara 4/25, Tatenda Mupunga 4/59, John Masara 1/17)

Mutare Sports Club won by 13 runs

Fine bowling by Tendai Chatara and Tatenda Mupunga was the key factor for Mutare Sports Club who pipped Takashinga Patriots 1 by 13 runs in the other great match between two powerful teams in Mutare.

The home side, put in to bat, had a rather patchy innings, but a second-wicket partnership of 86 between Nigel Bonyongwe (43) and Kudzai Sauramba (40) – both run out – gave them a good start, though neither was able really to dominate the bowling.

Spencer Magodo was in fact the only batter to do that, scoring 62 not out off 45 balls with nine fours, and sharing a fourth-wicket partnership of 73 with Donald Tiripano (22).

After Tiripano was out, though, the remaining batters could do little, and only fine hitting by Magodo enabled Mutare to top 200 – 203 for seven wickets – which scarcely looked to be enough against the might of Takashinga.

Tanaka Chivanga took three wickets but they were expensive, while Richard Ngarava bowled six overs for two wickets and only 22 runs.

Then it was that Chatara and Mupunga, with fine accurate bowling, put the skids under the Takashinga batting.

The visitors began with some dashing strokes and when the third wicket went down for 47 it was only the sixth over.

But alarm bells began to sound when Roy Kaia was fifth out at 66 in the 12th over.

Timycen Maruma was still there, though, and Cunningham Ncube (eight in a partnership of 39) and Blessing Muzarabani (27 out of 56 for the seventh wicket) gave him good support.

After that, though, Mupunga and Chatara returned to trouble the tail and the match was in the balance at 190 for seven.

Then came the final coup, as with the score unchanged Chatara dismissed Chivanga and Ngarava in three deliveries, while in the next over Maruma, making a desperate bid for victory, hit out and was caught by Magodo off Tiripano for 72 off 104 balls to end the match in Mutare’s favour.

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Queens Sports Club – 191 all out in 44.2 overs (Munashe Chimusoro 43, Chris Mpofu 40, Dalubuhle Mboyi 35; Ernest Masuku 3/16, Syed Bukharri 2/20, Nkosibongwe Gogodo 1/16)

Amakhosi – 175 all out in 42.2 overs (Adrian Mupembe 56, Tinashe Mujuru 24, Tawanda Maposa 20; Chris Mpofu 3/16, Tanatswa Bechani 2/31, Tinaye Shayamano 2/33)

Queens Sports Club won by 16 runs

Chris Mpofu rolled back the years to turn in a fine all-round performance on his home ground at Queens Sports Club that helped to bring about a narrow 16-run victory over the plucky Amakhosi team.

Queens, put in, did not bat particularly well and they owed their score of 191 to two good partnerships.

Dalu Mboyi with 35 and Tanaka Zvaita, 21, gave them a good start with 67 for the first wicket in 14 overs, but four wickets were soon down for 77, Ernest Masuku taking two of them.

Then Munashe Chimusoro (43) and Mpofu (40) came to the rescue by adding 88 in just over 18 overs, but once they were parted the tail did little and the final score was 191 all out in the final over.

Masuku was again largely responsible, and he had the excellent figures of four wickets for 16 in eight overs.

Adrian Mupembe stood out when Amakhosi chased their target, playing an admirable anchor role to score 56 off 102 balls, but he needed a reliable aggressive partner at the other end and was unable to find one.

Tawanda Maposa briefly promised with a quick 20, but when Mupembe was out at 123 for six in the 30th over, the match looked lost.

However, Tinashe Mujuru (24) and Ashley Phiri (12) added 40 for the seventh wicket, but then both were out in quick succession and the innings ended for 175.

Mpofu took two of the last three wickets to finish with three wickets for 16 runs.

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Kadoma – 318-6 in 45 overs (Tashinga Musekiwa 115, Nyasha Mayavo 108, Terrence Makoroma 39; Elvin Nxumalo 2/58, Shane Chigumbura 1/18, Luyanda Mutomba 1/49)

Golden Bulls – 66 all out in 26.2 overs (Elvin Nxumalo 14, Jimmy Nyangoni 13, Kelvin Mabvute 10; Victor Chirwa 4/22, Kudakwashe Macheka 3/9, Nickel Kombora 3/14)

Kadoma won by 252 runs

Centuries from Tashinga Musekiwa and Nyasha Mayavo of Kadoma virtually doomed the unfortunate Golden Bulls to another heavy defeat, by 252 runs at Kwekwe Sports Club on Wednesday.

Kadoma, who chose to bat, lost three wickets for 104 runs, but then these two batters came together and plundered 148 runs together for the fourth wicket in less than 17 overs.

Mayavo scored 108 off 87 balls with a six and 13 fours, while Musekiwa did even better, with 115 off 80 balls (seven sixes, seven fours).

Kadoma’s final total was 318 for six wickets off their 45 overs.

Bulls batters had little resistance to offer after Victor Chirwa broke through their top order, taking four wickets for 22 runs, and their final score was only 66 off 26.2 overs.

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Mbizo – 83 all out in 23.1 overs (Clifford Takaedza 42, Mkululi Nyathi 10, Jabulisa Tshuma 7; Patrick Nyamapfeni 4/36, Ahsan Aqil Ali 3/12, Matthew Campbell 2/10)

Rainbow – 84-0 in 16.2 overs (Tino Chiwara 52*, Matthew Campbell 29*)

Rainbow won by 10 wickets

A shock spell of pace bowling by Patrick Nyamapfeni of Rainbow shattered Mbizo’s innings after they had been put in to bat and condemned them to another defeat, this one by the heavy margin of 10 wickets.

Clifford Takaedza gave Mbizo a promising start, scoring most of the early runs, but Nyamapfeni quickly whipped out his first four partners, three bowled and one lbw, for only 19 runs among them.

None of the later batters lasted more than a few balls, apart from Jabulisa Tshuma who showed some fight in making seven off 20 balls, and Takaedza was the last man out, just failing to carry his bat through the innings.

He scored 42, more than half the total of 83, while Nyamapfeni took four for 36 in eight overs.

The Rainbow opening pair of Matthew Campbell, a solid 29 off 60 balls, and the more aggressive Tino Chiwara, 52 off only 38, had no difficulty in chasing down that target without loss in 16.2 overs.

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