Eagles – 445-9 declared in 99.5 overs (Tadiwanashe Marumani 163, Kudzai Maunze 156*, Nick Welch 34; Cuthbert Musoko 5/84, Tendai Chisoro 2/87, Jalat Khan 1/65)
Southern Rocks – 322-5 in 69 overs (Eddie Byrom 102, Richmond Mutumbami 95*, Dom Bess 38; Alex Russell 3/118, Nick Welch 1/35, Tapiwa Mufudza 1/76)
Cuthbert Musoko and Eddie Byrom led a strong fightback for Southern Rocks in their Logan Cup match against Eagles at Old Hararians Sports Club on Thursday.
Eagles looked to be well in control with a score of 396 for five wickets when play began, but in the first over of the day Musoko turned it into 402 for seven, as he removed Faraz Akram and Tanaka Chivanga in quick succession.
Eagles pulled back for a while as Tapiwa Mufudza with 17 partnered Kudzai Maunze in a stand of 44, but then Tendai Chisoro stepped in with two quick wickets, and in the end Eagles made a declaration at 445 for nine wickets.
Maunze, 134 overnight, was still unbeaten at the declaration with 156, which took him seven hours and 15 minutes as he faced 269 deliveries.
Musoko finished with a rather expensive five-wicket haul, picked up in 14 overs but at a cost of 84 runs.
Rocks then continued their fightback with the bat, as Roy Kaia scored 27 of an opening partnership of 61 with Byrom.
Byrom showed fine batting form as he made 102 off 149 balls, sharing stands of 68 with Dom Bess (38) and then 94 with Richmond Mutumbami.
He was finally out lbw to Alex Russell with the score 223 for three wickets.
Mutumbami himself was on course for a century at the end of the day, having reached 95 not out off 117 balls, in a score of 322 for five wickets.
With him is Alvin Chiradza, and Rocks could yet challenge Eagles on day three for a lead on the first innings.
Mega Market Mountaineers – 253 and 209-1 in 45 overs (PJ Moor 120*, Tony Munyonga 69*, Joylord Gumbie 10; Tafara Chingwara 1/47)
Rhinos – 219 all out in 62.1 overs (Ben Curran 99, Antum Naqvi 41, Tarisai Musakanda 35; Wellington Masakadza 4/38, Salman Mirza 3/67, Tendai Chatara 2/34)
Day 2 – Stumps: Mega Market Mountaineers lead by 243 runs
A big second-innings partnership between PJ Moor and Tony Munyonga put Mega Market Mountaineers firmly in the driving seat in their Logan Cup match against Rhinos at Kwekwe Sports Club on Thursday.
Mountaineers managed to take a first-innings lead of 34 after Rhinos were well placed overnight at 89 for two wickets, chasing 253.
The overnight batters were Ben Curran on 33 and Prince Masvaure on eight, to which the latter failed to add.
Curran, batting cautiously, then formed a partnership of 60 with Antum Naqvi, who scored 41 of them before he was out at 149 for four.
There followed a failure of the later batters, none of whom could even reach double figures, although Victor Chirwa hung on gallantly with Curran to score eight runs off 41 deliveries.
Mike Chinouya also supported Curran, who tried to speed up his scoring with his century on the horizon and the tail struggling.
Curran was ninth out, unfortunate to miss his century as Salman Mirza bowled him out for 99.
Rhinos were therefore bowled out for 219, with Wellington Masakadza doing most of the damage to the tail, taking four wickets for 38 runs.
Moor came in to open the Mountaineers batting this time with Joylord Gumbie, and did not alter his aggressive methods, the score being 34 in the fifth over when Gumbie was out for 10.
He was joined by Munyonga, and the pair added another 175 runs without being parted before the close, Munyonga playing the supporting role while Moor romped past his century.
At the close Moor had 120 and Munyonga 69, and the score was 209 for one wicket, giving Mountaineers a commanding lead of 243 with nine wickets still in hand.
