Mountaineers – 203 and 261-3 in 66 overs (Nick Welch 77*, Timycen Maruma 71*, Joylord Gumbie 63; Wallace Mubayiwa 2/107, Alex Russell 1/81)
Eagles – 114 all out in 43.3 overs (Kudzai Maunze 41, Wallace Mubayiwa 24, Tadiwanashe Marumani 13; Tendai Chatara 4/35, Vincent Masekesa 2/18, Wellington Masakadza 1/4)
Joylord Gumbie, Nick Welch and Timycen Maruma all scored fifties in Mountaineers’ second innings of their Logan Cup match against Eagles at Mutare Sports Club on Thursday to build up an overwhelming advantage for the home side.
Eagles began the second day on 47 for four wickets in reply to the hosts’ first-innings score of 203.
Kudzai Maunze, resuming on 21 not out, was the only batter able to stand for long as his team-mates crumbled against a strong bowling attack.
He took his score to 41 before he became the sixth man out at 74, caught off the bowling of Shingi Masakadza.
The only other recognised batsman to reach double figures was Tadiwanashe Marumani, who made 13, and the ninth wicket went down at 84.
They only reached three figures and made a score of 114 thanks to the last man Wallace Mubayiwa, who hammered 24 off only 11 balls, with a six and four fours, before being bowled by Victor Nyauchi.
Tendai Chatara was the most successful bowler with four wickets for 35.
Mountaineers went in again with a lead of 89 and the bat now began to dominate the ball.
Gumbie also found that aggressive play worked for him, as he went after the bowling boldly and put up 86 for the first wicket with Alistair Frost, who made 22 of these.
Gumbie was eventually stumped for 63 off 82 balls, a welcome return to form.
In the last session of play Mountaineers established a great advantage as Welch and Maruma mastered the bowling in a fourth-wicket partnership worth 125 runs that was still unbroken at the close.
Welch was unbeaten on 77 and Maruma on 71, and Mountaineers had taken their lead to 350 runs with seven wickets in hand and two days to play.
Southern Rocks – 204 and 38-1 in 16 overs (Panashe Taruvinga 20*, Nigel Bonyongwe 10*, Gabriel Jaya 6; Mgcini Dube 1/11)
Tuskers – 266 all out in 74.2 overs (Tafara Mupariwa 88, Ali Hamid 43, Will Fraine 40; Roy Kaia 5/52, Takudzwa Chataira 2/39, Newman Nyamhuri 1/21)
Day 2 – Stumps: Southern Rocks trail by 24 runs
A captain’s innings of 88 from Tafara Mupariwa helped Tuskers to take a first-innings lead of 62 over Southern Rocks in their Logan Cup match at Queens Sports Club on Thursday.
Tuskers began the day on 21 for one wicket after dismissing Rocks for 204 on day one.
Nkosana Mpofu was out for six off the first ball of the day, which brought Mupariwa to the wicket.
He played a good anchor role for his team’s innings without becoming stodgy, taking 180 balls to compile his invaluable 88.
Brian Chari (25), Will Fraine (40) and Ali Hamid (43) all stayed in with him during ever-increasing partnerships that were worth 55, 59 and 77 respectively, with Fraine’s knock off 35 balls being the most aggressive of these innings.
The Rhinos total was passed with four wickets down, but once Mupariwa was finally out, bowled by Roy Kaia, the tail collapsed and the final total was 266, a first-innings lead of 62.
Kaia had a long spell with the ball, taking five wickets for 52 runs off 23 overs.
By the close Rocks had responded with 38 runs for the loss of Gabriel Jaya for six – Panashe Taruvinga had 20 and Nigel Bonyongwe 10.
