Rhinos – 164-5 in 20 overs (Nyasha Mayavo 36*, Antum Naqvi 29, Ryan Burl 27; Marshall Takodza 2/21, Hamza Sajjad 1/30, Tapiwa Mufudza 1/37)
Eagles – 166-8 in 19.4 overs (Tadiwanashe Marumani 75, Craig Ervine 28, Chamu Chibhabha 14; Muhammad Adil 2/24, Neville Madziva 2/25, Ryan Burl 1/23)
Eagles won by two wickets
Two fours off successive deliveries from tail-ender Owen Muzondo took Eagles to a thrilling two-wicket victory over Rhinos with two balls to spare in Tuesday’s first Domestic T20 Cup match played at Old Hararians Sports Club.
Rhinos again showed great consistency when put in to bat, with six of their top seven batters all scoring 15 or more.
Antum Naqvi and Ryan Burl made 29 and 27 apiece, Tarisai Musakanda added 19, while the final momentum to their innings was given by Nyasha Mayavo and Tashinga Musekiwa.
The last pair put on 29 off the last 2.2 overs of the innings, with Musekiwa hitting 20 not out off nine balls, while Mayavo was the top scorer with an unbeaten 36 off 29 balls, which included two sixes and three fours.
Marshall Takodza was the best of the bowlers, with two for 21 off his four overs.
Eagles lost the wicket of Tinashe Kamunhukamwe in the first over, but Craig Ervine made 28 off 20 balls, and the crucial innings was played by Tadiwanashe Marumani, who almost took his team home to victory.
He had useful support in vital stands with Takodza (13) and Chamu Chibhabha (14), just keeping in touch with the required run rate all the time.
The last dramatic over was bowled by Neville Madziva – at 158 for six, Eagles needed seven runs off it to win.
Madziva seemed to have won the match for Rhinos when he had Marumani caught off his first ball for an excellent 75 (48 balls, four sixes, six fours), and then had the new man Hamza Sajjad caught off his next ball.
However, this was the point at which Muzondo came in and slashed his two match-winning boundaries past point to take Eagles to victory.
This was Rhinos’ first defeat in the competition after two victories.
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Durham – 174-5 in 20 overs (Colin Ackermann 52, Graham Clark 35, Bas de Leede 29; Jalat Khan 2/23, Dylan Hondo 2/26, Trevor Gwandu 1/45)
Southern Rocks – 71-7 in 9 overs (Roy Kaia 17, Eddie Byrom 17, William Mashinge 11*; Oliver Gibson 3/12, Ben Raine 2/8, Callum Parkinson 1/26)
Durham won by 16 runs (Duckworth-Lewis method)
Colin Ackermann again played a major part in Durham’s fine performance as they beat Southern Rocks in the second match of the day, played at Harare Sports Club, by 16 runs according to the Duckworth-Lewis calculations.
The English county side like winning the toss and batting first, and they were able to do both again.
Although Alex Lees went for six, Graham Clark (35) and Bas de Leede (29) put on 61 for the second wicket in just over eight overs.
Then came Ackermann, and he powered his way to 52 off only 23 balls, with three sixes and four fours.
Ollie Robinson (27) was his partner in a fourth-wicket partnership of 79 in just over seven overs, and it enabled Durham to reach the total of 174 for five wickets.
Jalat Khan and Dylan Hondo took two wickets apiece, for 23 and 26 runs respectively, but most of the other bowlers suffered quite severely.
Rocks suffered a big blow in the loss of Cephas Zhuwao for six, but then Eddie Byron and Roy Kaia put together a promising partnership of 35 in just over four overs before Kaia was out for 17.
At this point, 43 for two after 5.3 overs, a shower of rain arrived and quite spoiled the match as a contest.
When it ceased, Rocks now had a new target of 88 runs in nine overs ― in other words, another 45 runs off only 21 balls.
It was a hopeless task, and three more wickets went down within the next six deliveries for four runs as the batters hit out desperately and perished.
Byrom was the first to go for 17, and afterwards only William Mashinge with 11 not out reached double figures, the final score after nine overs being 71 for seven.
Oliver Gibson was Durham’s most successful bowler, taking both of those which fell before the rain came, and three altogether, for 12 runs in two overs.
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Tuskers – 110 all out in 19.5 overs (Sean Williams 38, Clive Madande 31, Brian Chari 11; Salman Mirza 4/11, Victor Nyauchi 3/25, Tendai Chatara 2/21)
Mega Market Mountaineers – 112-5 in 17.2 overs (Brian Bennet 25, PJ Moor 23, Wellington Masakadza 19*; Charlton Tshuma 2/29, Sean Williams 1/13, Jonathan Bushnell 1/25)
Mega Market Mountaineers won by five wickets
Salman Mirza took four wickets to help Mega Market Mountaineers record their first victory of this season’s Domestic T20 Cup, as they beat Tuskers by five wickets in a match between the two bottom teams in the tournament at Harare Sports Club on Tuesday night.
Tuskers decided to bat, but never looked like making enough runs to back that decision.
They lost their first four wickets for 22 runs, Mirza removing Brian Chari for 11 and Milton Shumba for one, before Sean Williams and Clive Madande made the only stand of the innings, scoring 38 and 31 respectively.
Mirza also ended the innings by taking the last two wickets for an all-out total of 110, so as to finish with figures of four for only 11 runs.
Mountaineers depended on a second-wicket partnership by PJ Moor, fresh from Ireland’s first Test victory against Afghanistan, making 23, and Brian Bennett with 25 – they added 45 together.
Their successors did not bat very confidently as they approached their comparatively easy target, losing three more wickets before crossing the line in the 18th over.
Timycen Maruma scored 19 and Wellington Masakadza 19 not out, while Charlton Tshuma took two wickets for 29.
2023/24 DOMESTIC T20 CUP POINTS TABLE
| TEAM | M | W | L | T | NR | PTS | NRR |
| Durham | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2.878 |
| Rhinos | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0.490 |
| Eagles | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -0.928 |
| Southern Rocks | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.016 |
| Mountaineers | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.779 |
| Tuskers | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1.110 |
