Mountaineers thrash Tuskers, Rocks-Rhinos match ends in draw

Mountaineers – 187 and 320 all out in 93.4 overs (Dion Myers 156, Donald Tiripano 51, Spencer Magodo 30; Mamoon Riaz 4/93, Tinotenda Maposa 2/41, Ernest Masuku 2/45)

Tuskers – 210 and 121-9 in 42 overs (Tanu Makoni 41, Aliakbar Hamid 38, Brian Chari 10; Salman Mirza 3/46, Tendai Chatara 2/22, Brian Bennett 1/5)

Mountaineers won by 176 runs

It took exactly two overs for Mountaineers to claim a 176-run victory over Tuskers in their Logan Cup match at Harare Sports Club on Saturday morning.

In the first over on the fourth and final day, Ernest Masuku hit a four, but Salman Mirza trapped him lbw for that score with his final delivery.

In the second over, Hamid Ali scored two off Tendai Chatara, before he too was out lbw to the final delivery.

Awad Naqvi, injured in the first innings, was declared unfit to bat, and so the match ended at this point, Tuskers being all out for 121.

Mirza was the most successful bowler with three wickets for 46 runs.

Southern Rocks – 458 and 324-4 declared in 69.5 overs (Johnathan Campbell 139, Roy Kaia 80*, Eddie Byrom 43; Muhammad Adil 3/93, Mike Chinouya 1/36)

Rhinos – 448 and 160-6 in 52.1 overs (Prince Masvaure 67*, Nyasha Mayavo 41, Antum Naqvi 30; Jalat Khan 4/66, Eddie Byrom 1/0, Roy Kaia 1/19)

Match drawn

A fighting innings of 67 not out by Prince Masvaure saved Rhinos from possible defeat to Southern Rocks in the Logan Cup match at Old Hararians Sports Club on Saturday.

Rocks began the final day on 166 for two wickets, a lead of 176, with Campbell on 63 and Richmond Mutumbami on 30.

They wanted to make runs quickly for a declaration, in the hope of being able to bowl out Rhinos in their second innings in ideal batting conditions.

Mutumbami was soon out for 35, but Roy Kaia returned to the crease after retiring hurt on Friday, and he and Campbell got after the bowlers in a fourth-wicket partnership that added 145 to the score.

Campbell achieved the rare feat of scoring two centuries in a first-class match.

He was not dismissed until he had scored 139, off 176 balls with two sixes and 12 fours

Campbell therefore scored a total of 333 runs in the match – only Andy Flower, in a Test match against South Africa, and Sean Ervine have ever exceeded that figure for any Zimbabwean team in a first-class match.

Innocent Kaia, the Rocks captain, declared the innings closed on his dismissal, setting Rhinos 335 to win.

A fine opening spell of bowling by Jalat Khan raised Rocks’ hopes of forcing a surprise victory – he removed Ben Curran, Bright Matsiwe and Remembrance Nyathi for just two runs among them.

Masvaure however came to the rescue with a determined innings, helped for a while by Nyasha Mayavo who hit up 41 off 41 balls.

Antum Naqvi, who retired hurt for a while, scored 30, but Masvaure remained, while Victor Chirwa played a noble defensive innings at the other end, seeing off 33 balls for nine runs.

Play went on until well after six o’clock, but the pair remained immovable, and Masvaure was still there at the close with 59, including 11 fours – he faced 157 balls and batted for four hours and 19 minutes.

Khan, the man who caused the scare in the first place, finished with four wickets for 66 runs.

2023/24 LOGAN CUP POINTS TABLE