Mountaineers record first win, Eagles’ perfect run continues

Southern Rocks – 315-5 in 50 overs (Roy Kaia 97, Johnathan Campbell 53*, Richmond Mutumbami 38; Donald Tiripano 2/58, Tony Munyonga 1/45, Brian Bennett 1/49)

Mountaineers – 318-3 in 46.2 overs (PJ Moor 96*, Joylord Gumbie 68, Kevin Kasuza 60; Johnathan Cambell 1/45, Keith Jaure 1/62, Takudzwa Chataira 1/67)

Mountaineers won by seven wickets

A brilliant innings of 96 not out by the former Zimbabwe batter PJ Moor led Mountaineers to an outstanding seven-wicket victory over Southern Rocks in their Pro50 Championship match at Masvingo Sports Club on Sunday.

Rocks, put in to bat, always appeared to be on course for a good score, after they were given a rousing start by Cephas Zhuwao with 36 off 42 balls.

Their star batter, however, was Roy Kaia, who played a fine innings of 97 off 118 balls, with two sixes and eight fours.

He shared partnerships of 87 for the third wicket with Richmond Mutumbami (38) and 77 for the fourth with Johnathan Campbell, the latter reaching 53 not out off 40 balls.

Tendai Chisoro helped take the score past 300 with an aggressive 22 off only 12 balls, and the innings closed at 315 for five wickets, which most expected would be more than enough against the struggling Mountaineers team.

But Mountaineers pulled together in fine style, with each of their top five batters playing a superb part in their eventual victory, which came with almost four overs to spare.

Joylord Gumbie and Kevin Kasuza began it with a dashing opening partnership of 117 within 21 overs, before Kasuza was out for 60 off 67 balls.

Gumbie was also out in the sixties, making 68 off 76 balls before he was out at 149 for two.

This brought in Moor to join the captain, Tony Munyonga, and they put on 57 together before Munyonga went for 42 off 41 balls – 206 for three.

Moor was by now in full flow, and all his new partner Brian Bennett had to do was play a supporting role and pick up runs as they came, which he did well enough with 32 not out of their partnership which eventually realised 112 runs.

Moor, who finished the match by hitting two successive fours, was unfortunate in that the target was reached just one further boundary stroke away from what would have been his first century in a match of any standing in Zimbabwe since 2019.

His unbeaten 96 came off only 65 deliveries and contained five sixes and eight fours.

The only bowler in this high-scoring match to take more than one wicket was Donald Tiripano of Mountaineers, who took two for 58.

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Tuskers – 198 all out in 42.5 overs (Sean Williams 45, Adrian Mupembe 45, Brian Chari 25; Kudzai Maunze 3/1, Tapiwa Mufudza 3/27, Tanaka Chivanga 1/27)

Eagles – 201-5 in 45.1 overs (Kudzai Maunze 40, Mathew Welch 40, Lavert Masunda 31; Brandon James 1/18, Nkosana Mpofu 1/20, Isheunopa Musekwa 1/20)

Eagles won by five wickets

The occasional off-breaks of Kudzai Maunze took three wickets in five balls for just one run to bring the Tuskers innings to an abrupt halt against Eagles in their Pro50 Championship match at Harare Sports Club on Sunday.

Tuskers were thus dismissed for 198, a total Eagles were easily able to overhaul with five wickets and almost five overs in hand.

Tuskers chose to bat first, and with some consistent batting by their top order they at one stage reached 181 for only four wickets in the 38th over.

The top scorers with 45 apiece were Sean Williams and the debutant wicket-keeper, Adrian Mupembe, who made an excellent impression as a batter in his first match.

But at 181 Milton Shumba went out for 19, the fifth man to go, and this triggered a shocking collapse of the lower order – in fact, the last five wickets went down for only five runs, including Maunze’s five-ball spell.

It was his only over, so this gave him the figures for three wickets for one run in 0.5 overs, although perhaps more meritorious was the consistent bowling of the regular off-spinner, Tapiwa Mufudza, who took three top-order wickets in his nine overs for only 27 runs.

Eagles also enjoyed consistency from their top order as they were under little pressure to chase down a comparatively low target.

Matthew Welch and Maunze both scored 40, while Lavert Masunda and Rodney Mupfudza made 31 apiece.

Romario Roach completed the job for his team with 25 not out.

Four Tuskers bowlers took a wicket each, with one run-out, no bowler standing out.

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