Pro50 Championships: Mountaineers bounce back into contention for final slot

Mountaineers – 228-8 in 50 overs – Innocent Kaia 82, Roy Kaia 34, Shingi Masakadza 27; Kyle Jarvis 6/35, Brandon Mavuta 1/49, Ryan Burl 1/52)

Rhinos – 181 in 43.2 overs – Prince Masvaure 71, Tendai Chisoro 21, Tarisai Musakanda 18; Roy Kaia 4/40, Shingi Masakadza 3/20, Donald Tiripano 1/14)

Mountaineers won by 47 runs

A good innings of 82 from the promising Innocent Kaia led the way for a Mountaineers victory over Rhinos in this Pro50 Championship match played at Kwekwe Sports Club on Friday.

He withstood some superb bowling from Kyle Jarvis, who returned the outstanding figures of six wickets for 35 runs, and enabled his team to retain a small chance of reaching next Friday’s final at the expense of a disappointing Rhinos team.

Jarvis, calling on all his experience and skill, would have torn through the Mountaineers’ batting had Kaia not withstood him in an innings of almost two hours that lasted only 92 balls, showing his runs were scored at a very good rate on a pitch that tended to be somewhat two-paced.

Tafadzwa Tsiga, who opened the innings, also deserves great credit for his solid innings of 26 off 62 balls, sharing a vital second-wicket partnership of 69 with Kaia, after the early loss of Kevin Kasuza to Jarvis for three.

Jarvis returned for a second spell that cost Mountaineers three wickets for eight runs, with Kaia’s brother Roy caught at the wicket off him for 34 and Timycen Maruma out for three.

Forster Mutizwa (17) and Shingi Masakadza (27) then played valuable innings in a stand of 46 for the sixth wicket, before both fell to Jarvis.

The innings closed for 228 for eight, with Donald Tiripano scoring 11 not out.

Jarvis had most support from the accurate slow left-arm spin of Tendai Chisoro, who did not take a wicket but conceded only 28 runs from his nine overs.

Once again Rhinos’ supposedly powerful batting line-up failed to rise to the challenge.

Bothwell Chapungu and Tarisai Musakanda, opening the innings, were more restrained than usual, but in vain, as they fell for nine and 18 respectively.

The innings was held together by Prince Masvaure, who scored a determined 71 off 96 balls.

However, Mountaineers believed they had him caught at slip quite early in his innings, but the umpires were unable to confirm it was a clean catch.

Shingi Masakadza struck vital blows for Mountaineers when he removed Musakanda with the score at 47, and followed it up by bowling PJ Moor two balls later and then taking a return catch from Ryan Burl (5), to make the score 59 for four wickets.

Although Masvaure continued to hold firm, he could find no partner able to play the major innings that was necessary to put Rhinos back in the match.

Neville Madziva made 10 and Chisoro 21, but then Roy Kaia, bowling with great accuracy, worked his way through the later batsmen, and the innings petered out for a total of 181.

Roy Kaia took four wickets for 40 runs, while Shingi Masakadza had three for 20.

One cause for concern is Tendai Chatara, who broke down while bowling his fourth over.

Rhinos, with only one match to play, are out of the final, but Mountaineers, whose first victory this is in four matches, have now a small chance.

They have two matches to play against Tuskers at Takashinga in Harare on Sunday and Tuesday, and need to win them both to reach the final against Eagles.

If they can recover their Logan Cup form, they are quite capable of doing so.

The other match is a ‘dead’ fixture in Kwekwe on Sunday between Rhinos and Eagles.

Pro50 Championship Points Table