Mid-West Rhinos – 170 and 291 in 65.1 overs (Bothwell Chapungu 118, Tendai Maruma 40; Charlton Tshuma 4/55, John Nyumbu 3/80)

Matabeleland Tuskers 174 in 54.4 overs (Keith Dabengwa 74*, Brian Chari 33; Brandon Mavuta 6/45)

Stumps – Day 2: Matabeleland Tuskers need 288 to win

This was an absorbing day’s cricket at Bulawayo Athletic Club, which produced several heroes.

Keith Dabengwa played a superb innings for Matabeleland Tuskers, in the face of fine bowling from Brandon Mavuta, who took a remarkable six wickets on his début.

Charlton Tshuma again bowled well for the home side, but perhaps the most significant performance of all was a dashing maiden century by the dynamic Mid-West Rhinos opening batsman Bothwell Chapungu, which paved the way for Mid-West Rhinos’ dominant position at the end of the day.

Matabeleland Tuskers resumed their first innings in a difficult position, 116 for eight wickets, still 54 runs behind the Mid-West Rhinos total with only two wickets in hand.

However, Dabengwa was still there on 31, and everything depended on him as far as first-innings points went.

His partner was Thabo Mboyi, after Chris Mpofu had been dismissed in the final over of the previous day.

Mid-West Rhinos began with their spinners, Mavuta and Kuda Munyede, but they did not trouble the batsmen much.

Mboyi, who scored 10, stayed with Dabengwa until the score reached 148, still 22 behind, before being bowled by Mavuta.

The last man, Tshuma, simply had to keep his wicket intact and leave the scoring to Dabengwa, who did just that, monopolising the bowling skilfully.

Dabengwa reached his fifty off 73 balls and then went down the pitch to drive a ball from Mkhululi Nyathi for six.

Shortly afterwards he swung the same bowler over midwicket for six to take his team into a lead that had looked unlikely at the start of play.

The innings finally ended at 174, when Tshuma was bowled by Mavuta – thanks to Dabengwa’s skill he had faced only 14 balls in eight overs, and done all that was necessary.

Dabengwa was unbeaten with a fine 74, scored off 106 balls with five fours and two sixes.

The other hero of the innings was the leg-spinner Mavuta, whose six wickets in the innings, on his début and the day before his 19th birthday, was a rare and impressive feat.

The pitch was by now not helping the bowlers unduly yet, but there was a slight hump at one end and the cracks were widening, so it was important for Mid-West Rhinos to take advantage of it with the bat, as batting on the third day could prove more difficult.

Mid-West Rhinos sent in first their usual suicide pilot pair of Bothwell Chapungu and Tendai Maruma.

The first over brought no surprise, but two fours off the bat and four leg-byes.

Their powerful, risky but successful hitting brought up the team 50 in the seventh over with one ball lost.

At lunch they had been batting for eight overs and the total was 63 without loss, Chapungu on 23 and Maruma 35.

Chapungu came back in blazing form after lunch, overtaking Maruma before the latter was bowled by Tshuma for 40.  The opening pair had put on 92 in 13.2 overs, a scoring rate of 6.90 runs per over.

Another slashing square boundary brought Chapungu his fifty off 41 balls.  Later in the over the team 100 came up in the 16th over.

The middle order did not make good use of this flying start, though.

The steady Prince Masvaure (10) clipped a catch to midwicket off Tshuma, Nyasha Mayavo was caught and bowled by Nyumbu for six and Remembrance Nyathi lbw to Tshuma for 8; 150 for four.

Chapungu himself was missed off a hard slash by Craig Ervine in the gully on 73.

The losses at the other end brought more caution from Chapungu, who at tea had reached 89 out of 163 for four, with Mark Mbofana on three.

Chris Mpofu made the batsmen struggle at times, but was still expensive; the inexperienced Tshuma kept accurate, while Nyumbu got the ball to skid through when bowling at the hump.

But, although he inevitably had a few miscues, Chapungu was more than equal to the bowling and the conditions.

About 10 minutes after tea Chapungu reached his maiden first-class century, a quick single becoming a five thanks to four overthrows.

His feat received very popular acclaim from his team-mates – it had taken him 101 balls.

With the monkey off his back, Chapungu stepped up his assault on the bowling again, but in the end he could not resist attempting a big hit against Nyumbu; the ball spun off the edge of the bat and he was caught in the covers for 118 off 115 balls, with 17 fours and a six.

Next ball Nyumbu bowled out Carl Mumba and Mid-West Rhinos were at 203 for six and the match was in the balance again, with a fragile tail to come.

This time the tail showed sterner resistance.  Every run was vital.

Mbofana and Mavuta fought well for a while before Mboyi returned to the bowling crease and had Mavuta caught at the wicket for 11.

Mbofana held the innings together for a long time for 29, but Tshuma returned and immediately trapped him lbw; 241 for eight.

Nyathi scored a very useful 23 before being caught and bowled by Mpofu, and even the last pair of Munyede and Richard Muzhange, with a combined career batting average of 12, batted with great stubbornness and occasional hard hits to put on 27 together in the best part of an hour.

The innings came to a close at 291, when Brian Chari finally came on to bowl and trapped Muzhange lbw for 10 with his first ball.

Munyede’s 26 not out was his highest first-class score.

Tshuma returned the best figures of four for 55, while Nyumbu took three for 80.

Matabeleland Tuskers, despite gaining the first-innings point, have been set 288 to win with two days left for play, and the match should finish tomorrow.

Mid-West Rhinos are certainly in the stronger position, but the situation is not impossible for the home team – they will however need at least one batting hero to complete the daunting task.