Southern Rocks – 177-6 in 20 overs (Cephas Zhuwao 86, Roy Kaia 42, William Mashinge 11*; Tashinga Musekiwa 3/24, Antum Naqvi 2/27, Muhammad Adil 1/27)
Rhinos – 177-9 in 20 overs (Ryan Burl 47, Antum Naqvi 30, Tarisai Musakanda 30; William Mashinge 4/32, Jalat Khan 2/37, Tendai Chisoro 1/32)
Despite a brilliant innings of 86 off 52 balls from Cephas Zhuwao, Southern Rocks were unable to beat Rhinos in a thrilling first match of Zimbabwe’s Domestic T20 Cup that had to be decided by a Super Over after both teams scored 177 runs at Old Hararians Sports Club on Sunday.
Put in to bat, Rocks looked likely winners when Zhuwao and Roy Kaia, who made 42 off 31, took the score to 112 for two wickets in the 11th over, but the middle order could not maintain the momentum.
This was mainly due to the bowling of Tashinga Musekiwa, who took three wickets for 24 in his four overs, and their 177 runs cost them seven wickets.
Rhinos had a shaky start when they lost their openers for 16 runs on the board, but Antum Naqvi scored 30 off 14 balls, with good support from Ryan Burl (47 off 31) and Tarisai Musakanda (30 off 25).
Carl Mumba was ninth out on 177 as he attempted the winning single, which required a Super Over to be bowled.
In this Burl scored 12 for Rhinos, helped by a five-wide from Jalat Khan, while thanks to a superb over from Neville Madziva Rocks managed only two runs and lost two wickets.
Durham – 192-4 in 20 overs (Alex Lees 95*, Bas de Leede 40, Graham Clark 30; Salman Mirza 2/14, Tendai Chatara 2/38)
Mega Market Mountaineers – 139-7 in 20 overs (Timycen Maruma 45, Joylord Gumbie 42, Wellington Masakadza 15; Luke Robinson 2/28, Colin Ackermann 1/9, Nathan Sowter 1/23)
Durham won by 53 runs
A brilliant innings of 95 not out by the former England opening batter Alex Lees propelled Durham to a 53-run victory over Mega Market Mountaineers in their first match of the tournament played at Harare Sports Club on Sunday afternoon.
Durham chose to bat on winning the toss, and Lees and Graham Clark (30) put on 55 for the first wicket in six overs.
Bas de Leede then joined Lees and they added 91 in eight overs for the second wicket before Tendai Chatara bowled de Leede for 40 off 24 balls.
Lees quite dominated the strike and the scoring after that, but he could manage only a leg-bye off the last ball of the innings when he needed six for his century.
His 95 came off only 59 balls and includes two sixes and nine fours.
He could not get hold of the bowling of Salman Mirza, whose four overs conceded only 14 runs for two wickets.
Joylord Gumbie batted well for Mountaineers, making 42 off 38 balls opening the batting before he was the third man out at 55.
Timycen Maruma took over his role with an excellent 45 off 29 balls, with six fours, but none of the other batters came off and the final score was only 139 for seven wickets.
Eagles – 136-9 in 20 overs (Chamu Chibhabha 30, Craig Ervine 26, Nick Welch 18; Ernest Masuku 3/23, Sean Williams 2/24, Charlton Tshuma 1/11)
Tuskers – 124-9 in 20 overs (Luke Jongwe 34, Ben McKinney 22, Brian Chari 18; Tanaka Chivanga 3/25, Hamza Sajjad 2/20, Owen Muzondo 1/17)
Eagles won by 12 runs
Three wickets in seven balls by Tanaka Chivanga was perhaps the turning point that resulted in a narrow 12-run victory for Eagles over Tuskers in Sunday’s final match played at Harare Sports Club under lights.
Eagles chose to bat on winning the toss, and found it worked out well for them in the end.
They lost their first three wickets for 40 runs, two of them in three balls to Ernest Masuku.
Then came the one major partnership of the innings, as Craig Ervine (26) and Chamu Chibhabha (30) put on 52 runs for the fourth wicket in eight overs.
Nobody stayed long after that and the eventual total was only 136 for nine wickets, with Masuku taking three for 23.
Tuskers began well, Brian Chari (18) and Ben McKinney (22) opening with 42 together in the first five overs before McKinney was first out.
Then came Chivanga’s burst to remove Chari and Hamid Ali with successive deliveries, followed by Sean Williams for seven, and his final figures were three for 25.
Five wickets were down for 60, but Milton Shumba (16) and Luke Jongwe (34) fought back to add 42 in six overs.
Tuskers were still in with a good chance when the score reached 122 for six with 10 deliveries to go, but Jonathan Bushnell was then caught for 10 off Richard Ngarava.
Remarkably the batters could score only a single in the final over from Owen Muzondo, who took a return catch to remove Jongwe as soon as he got the strike.
2023/24 DOMESTIC T20 CUP POINTS TABLE
| TEAM | M | W | L | T | NR | PTS | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durham | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2.650 |
| Eagles | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.600 |
| Rhinos | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.000 |
| Southern Rocks | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 |
| Tuskers | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.600 |
| Mountaineers | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2.650 |
