Alliance Health Eagles – 329 and 239 all out in 68.5 overs (Chamu Chibhabha 82, Tino Mutombodzi 54, Kudzai Maunze 50; Luke Jongwe 4/24, Nkosana Mpofu 2/32, Charlton Tshuma 2/32)

Tuskers – 439 and 131-3 in 32.4 overs (Craig Ervine 55*, Milton Shumba 33*, Tanunurwa Makoni 29; Tapiwa Mufudza 2/34, Richard Ngarava 1/8)

Tuskers won by seven wickets

A quick burst of wickets from Luke Jongwe of Tuskers on Saturday rocked Alliance Health Eagles, who had been in with a good chance of earning a draw in their Logan Cup match at Takashinga Sports Club.

Instead, their second-innings batting collapsed and Tuskers seized a fine victory by seven wickets not long before the scheduled close.

Eagles, 85 for two overnight, made a bad start to their day, losing two quick wickets to Charlton Tshuma.

In his first over he bowled Kudzai Maunze for 50 without any addition to the overnight score, and then had Wessly Madhevere lbw to the third ball he faced without scoring.

Chamu Chibhabha, on one overnight, had hit two successive fours off Ainsley Ndlovu between those wickets, so the score was now 93 for four wickets, still 17 runs behind Tuskers.

Tino Mutombodzi was full of confidence, however, after his first-innings century, and he settled in quickly and kept the score moving.

Chibhabha stood firm and batted responsibly, and the pair stayed together until lunch, when the score was 184 for four wickets, with Chibhabha on 55 and Mutombodzi 40.

Most importantly for the team, they now led Tuskers by 74 runs and still had six wickets in hand.

As the pair continued their partnership after lunch, it seemed they were well on the way to securing a draw against their old Bulawayo rivals.

However, at 221, Mutombodzi, having just passed his fifty, was out lbw to Jongwe, having put on an excellent 128 for the fifth wicket with his captain, and now the wheels fell off.

Jongwe quickly took two more wickets, removing Marshal Takodza lbw and Tinashe Nenhunzi without scoring.

Nkosana Mpofu had Chibhabha caught by Craig Ervine for 82 to end his fine innings, and also caught and bowled Keith Jaure – five wickets had gone down for four runs in four overs and Eagles were 225 for nine.

The last pair of Tapiwa Mufudza (3) and Richard Ngarava (6 not out) briefly held up matters, adding 14 runs, helped by extras, for the last wicket, before Jongwe had Mufudza caught by Brian Chari.

In this disastrous finish Eagles were all out for 239 and could set Tuskers only 130 runs to win.

Jongwe finished with four wickets for 24 runs, while Tshuma and Mpofu took two each.

As Tuskers chased their target, Mpofu was soon out, bowled by Ngarava for two.

Tanunurwa Makoni and Craig Ervine then formed what proved in the end to be the deciding partnership of the match, taking the score to 82 and making victory almost certain by the time Makoni was lbw to Mufudza for 29.

Brian Chari came and went for five, caught by Mutombodzi off Mufudza.

But Ervine was batting fluently, and then Milton Shumba came in and finished off the match quickly with some brilliant strokes, hitting a six and four fours on his way to 33 not out, scored off only 20 balls.

Ervine was there at the finish with 55 not out off 85 balls, and the final score was 131 for three wickets for Tuskers, as they completed a fine victory.

Tuskers thus move to the top of the Logan Cup table with 25 points from three matches, while Eagles, who began the tournament so well with two victories, have now suffered two losses and remain on 20 points from four.

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Mountaineers – 258 and 320-5 in 94 overs (PJ Moor 81, Tony Munyonga 60, Timycen Maruma 51; Travor Mutsamba 2/31, Roy Kaia 1/51, Innocent Kaia 1/56)

Southern Rocks – 505-8 declared in 149.3 overs (Sikandar Raza 226, Roy Kaia 104, Tafadzwa Tsiga 52; Vincent Masekesa 4/115, Tony Munyonga 2/37, Donald Tiripano 1/73)

Match drawn

A good return to form by PJ Moor, who scored 81 and was aided by three other fifties from the Mountaineers batsmen, helped their team to a draw in their Logan Cup match against Southern Rocks at Old Hararians Sports Club on Saturday.

Mountaineers, 147 behind Rocks on the first innings, began the day on 68 for one wicket, with Ben Compton on 25 and PJ Moor on 27.

The morning session saw not a single wicket fall, as the overnight pair put their heads down and kept their wickets intact.

Moor was the aggressor, hitting the bad ball hard and taking his score to 81 at the lunch interval.

Compton, who has played a few matches for Nottinghamshire in England, reached his first fifty in first-class cricket, taking 118 balls to reach the landmark.

Moor needed only 77 to do so, and he celebrated by hitting Tendai Chisoro for four fours in a single over.

By lunch Mountaineers had reached the fine score of 156 for one wicket, with Compton having reached a dogged 50 while Moor was on 81.

The luncheon interval proved disastrous for both batsmen, though.

Travor Mutsamba bowled Moor in the first over after the break, while in the next over Tafadzwa Tsiga stumped Compton off Kevin Kasuza – neither had added to his lunchtime score.

Mountaineers continued to play positive cricket, though, as Timycen Maruma and Tony Munyonga came into partnership and put on 89 together in 22 overs.

Maruma raced to 51 off 61 balls before being caught by Roy Kaia off Chisoro at 247 for four, and then Donald Tiripano took over as a good partner for Munyonga.

Munyonga was caught and bowled by Mutsamba for 60, but Tiripano continued to bat well, joined by Wellington Masakadza.

However, at 320 for five wickets and 173 ahead of Rocks, it was obvious that no outright result was possible, and the captains agreed to call it a draw, with Tiripano on 44 and Masakadza four.

Mutsamba bowled well to take two wickets for 31 in 16 overs, but none of the other bowlers caused the batsmen much trouble.

Both teams take five points for the drawn match.

Rocks, the reigning Logan Cup champions, are now the only team without a victory in this year’s tournament, although they do have 10 points from two drawn matches.

2021/22 LOGAN CUP POINTS TABLE