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Tuskers – 202 all out in 45.2 overs ( Ernest Masuku 67, Charles Kunje 31, Craig Ervine 31; Patrick Mambo 2/36, Daniel Jakiel 2/41, Tino Mutombodzi 1/27)
Eagles – 203-8 in 46.1 overs (Tinashe Kamunhukamwe 73, Regis Chakabva 38*, Richmond Mutumbami 23; Ainsley Ndlovu 3/23, John Nyumbu 1/21, Sean Williams 1/29)
Eagles won by two wickets
Eagles are Zimbabwe’s national one-day champions after the cool head of Regis Chakabva, 38 not out, saw them through to a narrow two-wicket victory over Tuskers in the Pro50 Championship final played at Harare Sports Club on Saturday.
After an hour and a half of play the match seemed as good as over, with Tuskers floundering at 102 for six wickets with all their specialist batsmen gone.
Then Ernest Masuku came through for them with a superb fighting innings of 67 which did most to take their total past 200.
This never looked sufficient for victory, though, until Ainsley Ndlovu took three quick wickets in the middle order and Eagles suddenly found themselves struggling at 155 for seven wickets.
That was when Chakabva, helped mainly by Tapiwa Mufudza and at the death by Daniel Jakiel, took over and saw his team home to a tension-filled victory.
Eagles had their full team fit and ready to play for this match, but Tuskers were missing the injured Taffy Mupariwa.
Tuskers were always the underdogs for this match, having only three victories against two defeats behind them compared to Eagles’ five victories out of five, so they did extremely well to push the new champions so hard.
On a hot and largely sunny morning Eagles, as they almost invariably seem to do on their home ground, won the toss and sent Tuskers in to bat on a good-looking pitch.
Brian Chari and Cunningham Ncube opened the batting for Tuskers against the bowling of Richard Ngarava and Jakiel.
Ngarava struck with his fourth ball: without a run on the board, he brought a ball back into Chari, who chopped it on to his stumps.
Craig Ervine, in next and in superb form, then drove the final ball of the over handsomely through extra cover for four to open the Tuskers score.
Despite the loss of Chari, Ncube and Ervine kept the score moving smoothly and picked up runs quite easily against bowling that was not badly loose but not always accurate enough, the score after four overs being 25 for one.
They took the score to 34 in the sixth over, when Jakiel beat Ncube (14) and trapped him lbw.
The scoring rate slowed as Sean Williams joined Ervine, who hit a boundary to take his score to 23, making it 302 runs now since he had last been dismissed in a match.
After all that, it was surprising that he should go for 31 to a soft dismissal: he dabbed at a ball from Patrick Mambo outside his off stump and nudged the catch to slip.
Tuskers were now 53 for three after 10 overs, and only Williams remained of their international batsmen.
Williams indeed did not look too comfortable at the crease, but he fought it out as Charles Kunje joined him.
Finally, though, after two singles off 11 balls, Williams latched on to a short ball from Mambo and pulled it superbly to the midwicket boundary.
Kunje was looking to be aggressive from the start and played some powerful strokes, but just as a good partnership seemed to be developing, Williams slashed at a ball from Chamu Chibhabha well outside his off stump and was caught at the wicket for 14; 88 for four in the 16th over.
This brought in Tendai Maruma at number six, the last recognised batsman before the long fragile Tuskers tail began.
However, Maruma lasted to score only two runs before he was out in a most embarrassing way.
He let a ball from Chibhabha through to the keeper standing back, and then thoughtlessly took a step out of his crease, only for the alert Richmond Mutumbami to throw the stumps down and reduce Tuskers to 91 for five in the 18th over.
Tino Mutombodzi brought spin on for the first time, in the person of himself, and struck in his first over, as he won an lbw appeal to remove Kunje for a well-played 31, scored off 28 balls with five fours.
Tuskers’ situation now looked virtually hopeless at 102 for six in 20 overs, and with only four tail-end wickets left.
However, Tuskers were not about to give up.
While Chris Mpofu blocked resolutely, Masuku rose to the occasion, as he has done at times before during the season, playing straight and showing some good strokes.
The batsmen stayed in, the score mounted, and when he had reached 41 (with Mpofu still on six), he had the effrontery to go down on one knee and swing a ball from Tapiwa Mufudza over the midwicket boundary for six.
In the following over he reached his first one-day fifty for Tuskers, coming off 60 balls, and it could not have come at a more critical time.
In Mufudza’s next over he hit him again over midwicket for six, and he was now looking a class batsman, almost invulnerable.
Sadly his innings came to an inglorious end, as he sought a risky second run for a stroke to third man; Mpofu rightly sent him back, but some fine fielding and another direct hit from Mutumbami saw him run out just short of his crease for a magnificent innings of 67.
He faced 78 balls, hit six fours and two sixes, and shared a partnership of 82 with Mpofu; the score was now 184 for seven in the 42nd over.
Another wicket fell almost immediately, as the new man Ainsley Ndlovu edged a ball from Mambo high, but Mutumbami struck again, leaping to pull down a fine catch.
The collapse had returned to Tuskers, as John Nyumbu called for a quick single, and some fine fielding from Cephas Zhuwao saw Mpofu narrowly run out — the third run-out of the innings.
He had played an invaluable supporting role to score 10 runs off 60 balls, and it was unfortunate that now, with Masuku gone, he did not have the opportunity to indulge in some of his favourite and renowned big hits.
There were a few more runs to come from the last pair, though, as Nyumbu indulged in some hard hits, including a straight drive off Jakiel that went for a one-bounce four and brought up the 200, a total that had earlier on looked next to impossible.
Next ball, though, he tried to repeat the shot and holed out at long-off for 16, ending the innings at 202 in the 46th over; Charlton Tshuma was not out with two.
There were two wickets each for Jakiel and Mambo, but the outstanding performances of the innings were the 67 by Masuku and the brilliant wicketkeeping of Mutumbami.
Eagles began their innings with Mpofu bowling to the attacking pair of Tinashe Kamunhukamwe and Cephas Zhuwao.
Mpofu’s tactic against the menace of Zhuwao was to bounce him out, but Tshuma did better with a good-length ball just outside the off stump that Zhuwao tried to swing to leg, and got an inside edge to the keeper; he made one and the total was three.
Kamunhukamwe, however, soon began to make up for the loss of his senior partner, playing some dazzling strokes, including a six over the covers off Tshuma.
Chibhabha tried to emulate him, but he miscued a big hit off Mpofu and skyed a catch to backward point for 11; 48 for two in the eighth over.
Kamunhukamwe continued to play some brilliant and powerful strokes, and he brought up his fifty off just 30 balls by hitting Masuku for a six over long-on.
Mutumbami gave him good support, scoring 23 off 29 balls before trying to hit Ndlovu’s first ball of the match for six and being caught at long-on; 115 for three in the 18th over.
Two balls later Ndlovu had Mutombodzi caught at the wicket without addition to the score, and Tuskers were still in the game with a small chance.
Kamunhukamwe seemed to be tiring now, as his scoring rate slowed, and Ndlovu struck again in his next over, trapping him lbw for a superb 73.
He faced only 60 balls for it, hitting seven fours and three sixes, and Eagles now had cause for concern at 125 for five.
Elton Chigumbura now joined Regis Chakabva at the crease, and there was not too much good batting to come after them.
They proceeded with care, but Eagles fell into further trouble at 138, when Chigumbura perhaps unwisely looked for a quick single into the covers, was sent back by Chakabva and failed to make his ground, out for eight.
Chakabva and his new partner Mambo played with great care, and took the score to 155 before Mambo (seven off 27 balls) was the next to go, the ball finding the edge of his defensive bat off the bowling of Williams; 155 for seven in the 31st over.
It seemed that all depended on Chakabva now, with just three tailenders to help him, the first of them being Mufudza.
Runs came in ones and twos amid great tension; the bowling gave the batsmen few chances and it was obviously not the time to take any risks.
After 10 overs together they had put on 20 runs safely and taken the score to 175 with 28 still needed.
Their first boundary came a few balls later, as Chakabva cracked a short ball from Masuku through the covers for four; two overs later, he drove the same bowler wide of mid-on for another boundary.
With 13 now needed for victory, the tension was beginning to relax a little.
Masuku, who has enjoyed much success this season and batted so well for his team, struggled to reproduce his best form with the ball now.
The batsmen tried to gather the last few runs more quickly now, but Mufudza became a little too eager; he went for a big drive but sliced the ball into the covers to be caught for 17.
He had faced 44 balls and shared in a partnership of 42, leaving with six runs still needed as the number 10 Jakiel joined Chakabva at the crease.
The tension was back as Jakiel scrambled a quick single to give Chakabva the strike, with Masuku still bowling.
Chakabva took a single, and at the end of that over Eagles were just four runs, one boundary stroke, from victory, with the experienced Nyumbu taking the ball.
Unfortunately he bowled two balls just down the leg side that were called wide; the scores were tied at the end of the over. Masuku then bowled; Chakabva clipped the first ball hard and straight to square leg, who partly misfielded it, and the batsmen raced through for the winning single and just got home to end the match
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