Eagles – 262 all out in 49.4 overs (Tinashe Kamunhukamwe 61, Faraz Akram 49, Tony Munyonga 42; William Mashinge 4/37, Roy Kaia 3/57, Shelton Mazvitorera 1/30)
Southern Rocks – 253 all out in 48.3 overs (Ryan Higgins 89, Innocent Kaia 51, William Mashinge 34; Faraz Akram 3/53, Alex Falao 2/40, Wessly Madhevere 2/44)
Eagles won by nine runs
Rocks won the toss and put Eagles in to bat.
The home side enjoyed a fine start, as their opening pair of Tinashe Kamunhukamwe and Tadiwanashe Marumani scored freely and put up 71 for the first wicket in less than 10 overs.
Then a superb spell of bowling by Mashinge changed the aspect of the game, as he first dismissed Marumani and Emmanuel Bawa in the same over, and followed this up with the wickets of Dion Myers for nine and Craig Ervine for one.
When Dylan Hondo bowled out Kamunhukamwe for 61, scored off 63 balls, Eagles were in some trouble at 114 for five wickets in the 24th over.
Wessly Madhevere (28) and Tony Munyonga (42) brought about an improvement with a partnership of 60 in nine overs, but then with more wickets falling the eighth wicket went down at 205.
Again, another partnership came to the rescue, this time with Faraz Akram (49) and Alex Falao (16) taking on the bowling to add 57 in 11 overs.
Both fell to successive deliveries in the final over from Shelton Mazvitorera, so with two balls left unbowled the final total for Eagles was 262 all out.
Mashinge was the best of the bowlers with four wickets for 37 runs in his 10 overs, while Roy Kaia took three for 57.
Rocks made a rather poor start in their challenge, losing three wickets for 44 runs, but Innocent Kaia played well and at last found a worthy partner in Ryan Higgins.
Higgins hit hard and well, and they put on 83 for the fourth wicket before Kaia was caught for 51, scored off 84 balls.
Higgins continued to bat well with Mashinge for the seventh wicket, as they added 31 together before he was caught for 89 off Akram, scored off 80 balls with three sixes and eight fours.
The eighth wicket fell at 207 and this match seemed lost, but Mashinge was still going well, and Hondo gave him such help from number 10 that they took the score to 251 in the 48th over, giving Eagles much concern in a tight finish.
At this point Akram struck again, trapping Mashinge lbw for 34 and, with Hondo out in the next over, Rocks fell just short of their target, all out for 253 with nine balls in hand.
Akram was the outstanding bowler with three vital wickets for 53 in nine overs.
However, the overall honours belonged to Madhevere, who delivered a standout all-round performance to earn the player of the match award, scoring a vital 28 runs, taking two wickets for 44 runs in his 10 overs and securing two catches in the field.
Rhinos – 287-7 in 41 overs (Antum Naqvi 131, Kevin Kasuza 43, Tashinga Musekiwa 41; Ernest Masuku 2/52, Luke Jongwe 2/59, Brandon James 1/35)
Tuskers – 13-1 in 4.4 overs (Nkosana Mpofu 7, Tanunurwa Makoni 5*)
No result
Antum Naqvi's dazzling century for Rhinos stole the spotlight in their Pro50 Championship clash against Tuskers at Bulawayo Athletic Club on Wednesday, but their hopes for what would have been a well-deserved victory were dashed by rain.
The start was delayed after rain, and when the match eventually began each team had 41 overs to bat.
Rhinos, put in to bat, had quite a good start as Takudzwanashe Kaitano (27) and Ben Curran (22) put on 48 for the first wicket, before both were dismissed in quick succession.
Their innings was to enjoy two century partnerships, the first being one of 101 for the third wicket between Naqvi and Kevin Kasuza (43) in 16 overs.
Naqvi was joined by Tashinga Musekiwa for the fifth wicket and this pair now put on 119 together in less than nine overs as they punished the bowling severely.
Naqvi raced past his century with dazzling strokeplay and was eventually caught near the long-on boundary for a brilliant 131, which took him only 85 balls and contained no fewer than 10 sixes and seven fours.
In the one remaining over Ernest Masuku did extremely well to produce a double-wicket maiden, leaving Rhinos with an excellent total for 41 overs of 287 for seven wickets.
Tuskers had a difficult task ahead of them, and in the fourth over they lost the valuable wicket of Nkosana Mpofu, run out for seven.
Tanunurwa Makoni and Tafara Mupariwa took the score to 13 for one wicket in the fifth over, but at this point lightning from an approaching storm persuaded the umpires to take the players from the field for reasons of safety.
Then the storm struck and the match had to be abandoned with no result.
2024/25 PRO50 CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS TABLE
| TEAM | M | W | L | T | NR | PTS | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eagles | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.142 |
| Rhinos | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0.815 |
| Southern Rocks | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0.143 |
| Mountaineers | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -0.068 |
| Tuskers | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | -1.285 |
