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Rangers – 221 and 214 all out in 66.3 overs (Clive Imbayago 67, Kyle Jarvis 36, Brian Mudzinganyama 35; Patrick Mambo 4/41, Faraz Akram 2/32, Tino Mutombodzi 2/48)
Eagles – 106 and 248-5 in 65 overs (Tinashe Kamunhukamwe 73, Regis Chakabva 63, Patrick Mambo 42*; Kyle Jarvis 2/45, Clive Chitumba 1/29, Charlton Tshuma 1/37)
Day 3 – Stumps: Eagles require another 82 runs with five wickets remaining
When all looked lost for Eagles in their Logan Cup match against Rangers at Harare Sports Club on Friday, Patrick Mambo and Tony Munyonga stood in the gap for their team with an unbroken 63-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
They still need 82 runs for victory, while Rangers require five wickets, and anything can still happen on the final morning.
Rangers began the day, hot and sunny, on 159 for six wickets in their second innings, a handsome lead of 274 over Eagles; Clive Imbayago was on 46 and Kyle Jarvis 15.
It took four balls from Tino Mutombodzi and some quick running for Imbayago to reach his fifty, which had taken him 76 balls.
Jarvis enjoyed a life before he had added to his score, as he snicked a ball from Blessing Muzarabani and gave a difficult high chance to slip, who got his hand to the ball but could not hold it.
Within half an hour the 300 lead was reached with both batsmen still at the crease and looking very capable against an attack which seemed to pose little threat.
The pair put on 62 runs together for the seventh wicket, taking the score to 195, before Jarvis took a big swing at a ball from Patrick Mambo that removed his middle stump for 36.
Dylan Hondo scored only a single before he edged a low catch to third slip off Faraz Akram, but Davis Murwendo came in to partner Imbayago when the 200 went up.
Imbayago batted reasonably well, but was not quite at his best this morning, and he eventually departed for 67, slashing at a ball from Mambo outside his off stump and being caught at the wicket; 211 for nine.
Top scorer of the innings, he faced 106 balls and hit four fours in an invaluable innings for his team.
The last pair hung in for a few overs without scoring many, and the innings closed for 214 when Charlton Tshuma (2), hitting across the line at a ball from Mutombodzi, was given out lbw, leaving Murwendo not out with six.
Mambo was the most successful of the Eagles bowlers, with four wickets for 42 runs, while Akram and Mutombodzi took two each.
Eagles went in to bat again almost 10 minutes before lunch with a daunting, but not impossible, target of 330 runs to win on a pitch where the bounce was becoming uneven.
They looked very purposeful from the start, with 10 runs coming off the first over from Tshuma, nine to Chibhabha, including a pull for four and a slice backward of point for three.
Lunch was taken at two overs, when Eagles had 11 runs on the board, Chibhabha with nine and Kudzai Maunze yet to score.
In the first over afterwards Maunze hit Tshuma for four, but was then out lbw, beaten on the forward defensive.
Chibhabha and Tinashe Kamunhukamwe now went after the bowling in exciting but rather reckless style, the latter hitting Jarvis for two sixes in an over, and then two fours and a three in the following over, and getting away with it.
Chibhabha paid the price instead, edging a ball from Jarvis to be caught in the slips for 30, making the score 71 for two in only 13 overs.
The fall of his wicket quietened Kamunhukamwe temporarily, but then he broke out again and ran to his fifty off only 54 balls.
The inexperienced Rangers team struggled to know what to do against such daring batting, and by tea they had still not taken another wicket, with Eagles looking well placed at 140 for two wickets; Kamunhukamwe on 64 and Regis Chakabva 34.
Soon after tea Chakabva got his fifty off 73 balls and the halfway mark was reached, with the batsmen continuing to dominate and none of the bowlers able to stem the flow of runs.
It was not until the score reached 171 that Kamunhukamwe pulled a ball from Jarvis not too wisely and hit a catch to a well-placed fielder just in from the midwicket boundary.
Kamunhukamwe had scored a dashing 73 off 98 balls, with three sixes and five fours, and had put on exactly 100 runs for the third wicket with Chakabva.
Here was now perhaps the most critical stage of the innings, and if either side was able to gain a significant further advantage in the next half-hour or so, it could be decisive regarding the final result.
It was to be the youngsters who made that advantage.
Surprisingly, Brian Mudzinganyama was brought on to bowl his occasional off-breaks, and Rangers were most disappointed to have an lbw appeal against Chakabva turned down.
However, they were jubilant when Chakabva appeared to try to turn a ball from Jarvis on the leg side, but it seemed to come off the shoulder of his bat and gave the bowler a simple return catch.
He was out for 63, and Eagles were now 180 for four wickets, with most of the batsmen still to come comparatively inexperienced.
Tony Munyonga, who has shown determination in difficult situations before in his brief career, joined Mutombodzi, and both batsmen dug in deep against enthusiastic bowling and fielding.
The fall of the fifth wicket, at 185, was highly unfortunate for Eagles.
Mutombodzi called for a quick single on the leg side, but Munyonga, backing up, was accidentally obstructed by the bowler, Clive Chitumba, running in front of him to try to field the ball, and so he tried to send Mutombodzi back.
Mutombodzi, however, was well down the pitch and had no chance of getting back to his crease before a good return by Tshuma to the keeper ran him out for one, which had taken him 19 balls to make.
In more sporting days the fielding side might have withdrawn their appeal and asked Mutombodzi to return, since his partner had been obstructed, but it may be that most of the Rangers players did not see exactly what had happened.
Munyonga and Mambo now had to carry on the fight, with the odds against Eagles now.
They brought up the 200 with five wickets down and still 130 more runs needed.
Slowly the score crept up, and it became clear that the match was not now likely to finish today.
As time went on the batsmen grew more confident and more aggressive, and Mambo took 14 runs off an over from Johnathan Campbell to bring up the 50 partnership.
At this stage Rangers seemed to be losing their grip and uncertain what to do.
Close of play found Eagles at 248 for five, with Mambo (42) and Munyonga (26) having swung the game back yet again.
Eagles need 82 more runs and they still have five wickets left.
This does not look so daunting now, but tomorrow is a new day and anything can still happen.
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