Masakadza shines as Mountaineers decimate Eagles
Alliance Health Eagles – 181 and 165 all out in 61.4 overs (Tinotenda Mutombodzi 38, Kudzai Maunze 36, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe 32; Wellington Masakadza 4/21, Victor Nyauchi 2/43, Clive Chitumba 1/17)
Mountaineers – 328 and 19-0 in 3.2 overs (Ben Compton 13*, Kevin Kasuza 6*)
Mountaineers won by 10 wickets
Wellington Masakadza took four wickets in 11 balls, including three in four balls, to shatter the Alliance Health Eagles second innings and speed them to a 10-wicket defeat by Mountaineers in their Logan Cup match at Old Hararians Sports Club on Tuesday.
At the start of play, Eagles were 66 for three in their second innings, having fallen 147 runs behind on the first innings – the overnight batters were Tinashe Nenhunzi with five and Tino Mutombodzi with seven.
Nenhunzi was soon caught off Victor Nyauchi for 15, but Mutombodzi went on to score 38 off 68 balls to hold the innings together.
Will Fraine came in when Nenhunzi left, and he played a very dogged game.
He settled in with Kudzai Maunze, and the pair played with great determination to clear off the first-innings deficit just after lunch with five wickets in hand.
As long as they were together, Eagles still had a chance of making a game of it.
After lunch, Masakadza began with three maiden overs.
In his fourth over, Fraine hit his fifth ball to the boundary, but off the final delivery he was caught at the wicket by Joylord Gumbie for 22, to make the score 156 for six.
At the other end Maunze hit Donald Tiripano for a six, and then Masakadza bowled his next over to the new man, Tapiwa Mufudza – he bowled him out with the first delivery.
Keith Jaure survived the second ball, but was caught by Kevin Kasuza off the third and Masakadza had achieved the comparatively rare feat in first-class cricket of taking three wickets in four balls.
Daniel Jakiel survived the over without scoring, but after Maunze took a single from Tiripano, Jakiel was immediately out to that bowler, and nine wickets were down for 163.
Maunze faced Masakadza’s next over, and scored a two off the first ball, only to be caught by Tinashe Muchawaya off the fourth, to bring the innings to a speedy conclusion for 165.
The last five wickets had collapsed for nine runs in less than five overs, four of these wickets going to Masakadza.
His final figures were four wickets for 21 runs, while Nyauchi, who also bowled well, took two for 43.
This left Mountaineers to score only 19 runs to record their third victory of the tournament, which they completed in 3.2 overs.
Ben Compton (13 not out) hit Jakiel for three fours in his second over to level the scores, and Kasuza (five not out) scored a single off Honest Ziwira to end the match.
Mountaineers move to the top of the Logan Cup log with 40 points, though this will be only a temporary situation if Tuskers complete their anticipated victory over Rhinos on Wednesday.
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Tuskers – 347 and 292-5 declared in 66.5 overs (Craig Ervine 107, Brian Chari 77, Milton Shumba 44*; Brandon Mavuta 2/102, Tafara Chingwara 1/14, Carl Mumba 1/19)
Rhinos – 245 and 38-0 in 13 overs (Takudzwanashe Kaitano 23*, Prince Masvaure 13*)
Day 3 – Stumps: Rhinos need 357 runs
A fine attacking century by Craig Ervine, his 13th in first-class cricket, has given Tuskers what will probably prove to be an unassailable advantage over Rhinos in their Logan Cup match at Harare Sports Club on Tuesday.
Overnight, Rhinos were struggling at 217 for seven wickets, with Carl Mumba on 12 and Brandon Mavuta on seven.
The pair took the score to 244, but then the innings ended in a hurry, as in the space of seven balls Sheu Musekwa had Mavuta caught by Luke Jongwe for 14, and then Ernest Masuku bowled out Mumba for 24 and trapped Tafara Chingwara lbw without scoring within four balls.
The total was 245, a deficit of 102.
Tuskers made a bad start to their second innings, as Chingwara had Taffy Mupariwa caught at the wicket by Nyasha Mayavo for three, and Mumba bowled Tanu Makoni for five; 18 for two wickets.
Ervine was not affected at all by these losses, as he was soon playing his strokes freely and well, and found a good partner in Brian Chari.
The Rhinos bowlers could not hold them in check as they put on a fine partnership of 182 for the third wicket, with Ervine just reaching his century as he lost his partner.
Chari was caught by Mike Chinouya off Mavuta for 77, an innings that came off 134 balls and contained 10 fours.
Rhinos were fighting back, as Ervine fell soon afterwards for 107, caught by Mavuta off Ryan Burl – he faced 142 balls and hit 11 fours.
A third wicket fell as Burl caught Clive Madande without scoring off Mavuta, making the score 210 for five.
But that was their last success, as Milton Shumba (44 off 57 balls) and Luke Jongwe (41 off only 36) put on 82 together, both hitting two sixes and both being not out when Tuskers declared.
Mavuta was the only bowler to take two wickets in the Tuskers innings, but they cost him 102 runs off only 20 overs.
The declaration left Rhinos a target of 395 to win, and 14 overs to bat out day three, when Tuskers hoped to pick up at least one or two wickets to make their task on the final day easier.
Takudzwanashe Kaitano and Prince Masvaure went in to open for Rhinos, and they did well to survive until stumps were drawn just after 5.30pm, finishing the day with 23 and 13 respectively.
Still, Rhinos will have to do extremely well if they are to avoid defeat on the fourth and final day.
