Tuskers gore Rhinos, as Compton keeps Mountaineers in the fight

Rhinos – 214 and 313 all out in 90.4 overs (Johnathan Campbell 68, Remembrance Nyathi 67, Nyasha Mayavo 66; Sean Williams 4/44, Sheunopa Musekwa 3/61, Jordan Morris 1/37)

Tuskers – 432 and 98-2 in 16.2 overs (Taffy Mupariwa 50*, Tanu Makoni 29, Brian Chari 11*; Johnathan Campbell 1/16, Mike Chinouya 1/17)

Tuskers won by eight wickets

Taffy Mupariwa found his form at the right time as he scored a dashing fifty to take Tuskers to a straightforward eight-wicket victory over Rhinos in their Logan Cup match at Old Hararians Sports Club on Tuesday.

Tuskers began the day with the comparatively simple task of scoring 96 runs in their second innings to beat Rhinos, and they achieved it in just over an hour, within 17 overs.

Tanu Makoni and Nkosana Mpofu opened the innings, but Mpofu was bowled by Mike Chinouya without scoring with the final delivery of the first over, as he played the ball on to his stumps.

This brought in Mupariwa, who played himself in carefully and then began to eye the boundaries.

In the seventh over he hit Christopher Masike for two fours and he was away.

Makoni joined the party, with three fours off Masike’s next over.

They took the score to 76, when Makoni fell lbw to Johnathan Campbell for 29, scored off 38 balls.

Brian Chari came in next and soon hit Kiran Carlson for six, but he left it to Mupariwa to hit the same bowler in his next over for the winning four, that also brought up his 50 off 48 balls – it included eight fours.

Chari had a six and a four in his 11 not out as Tuskers completed their victory.

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Mega Market Mountaineers – 329 and 243-5 in 61 overs (Ben Compton 100*, Brian Bennett 28, PJ Moor 21; Tapiwa Mufudza 3/62, Brad Evans 2/54)

Eagles – 383 all out in 97.1 overs (Craig Ervine 93, Wessly Madhevere 72, Kudzai Maunze 43; Shingi Masakadza 2/36, Donald Tiripano 2/53, Tinashe Muchawaya 2/72)

Day 3 – Stumps: Mega Market Mountaineers lead by 189 runs

Ben Compton on Tuesday held his Mega Market Mountaineers team together in their second innings after they had fallen behind Eagles as he finished the day with a thoroughly well-deserved 100 not out.

This comes from a Mountaineers score of 243 for five wickets, and thanks to him this Logan Cup match at Harare Sports Club is in an interesting position as they lead by 189 runs with five wickets in hand.

Eagles began the day with 317 for five wickets in reply to the Mountaineers total of 329, with Wessly Madhevere on 66 and Cunningham Ncube 19.

Ncube was caught by Clive Chitumba off Victor Nyauchi before a run had been scored, while Madhevere never got going again as Shingi Masakadza had him caught at the wicket for 72, having faced 102 balls.

Thus, Mountaineers succeeded in removing both the overnight batters before their own score had been overhauled.

Brad Evans played an uncharacteristically subdued innings of 12 off 24 balls, and most of the going now was done by Faraz Akram, who played his strokes freely to score 34 off 32 balls before he ran out of partners.

Eagles were all out for 383, a first-innings lead of 54, which they probably felt a bit disappointing after their good overnight position.

Tinashe Muchawaya, Donald Tiripano and Shingi Masakadza all took two wickets.

Altogether Mountaineers used seven bowlers and each took at least one wicket.

The central figure for the rest of the day, as Mountaineers batted a second time, was Compton.

However, he struggled to find a long-term partner as his companions came in one after the other, scored a few runs and then returned to the pavilion just as they should have been looking to prosper.

Chitumba began the innings with four fours, but it was too good to last and he was bowled by Evans for 16 off 19 balls.

Of Compton’s other partners, Kudzai Sauramba lasted the longest, facing 58 balls to score 20.

Spencer Magodo retired hurt for six after taking a blow on the head, and the former Under-19 player Brian Bennett took his place in the team as a concussion substitute.

Despite having such short notice, Bennett batted well on his first-class début –after a cautious start he played some good strokes and scored 28 runs, which happens to be the highest individual score for Mountaineers so far apart from Compton’s knock.

PJ Moor scored 21 before being caught off Tapiwa Mufudza just when he should have been settling in for a big score.

As the close of the day approached, Compton was eager to complete his century and was batting well enough and wisely enough to do just that, hitting Evans for 10 runs in the last over of the day to bring up three figures off 158 balls.

The best bowler of the afternoon has been the off-spinner Mufudza who has so far taken three wickets.