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It may have only lasted three days, but the opening Logan Cup match between Northerns and Centrals was a close affair, with both sides struggling for runs at Harare Sports Club. Only two runs separated the sides after the first innings - Centrals, batting first, put on 184, led by Malcolm Waller's 69, with Graeme Cremer taking 4/81 for Northerns. Cremer, in combination with Elton Chigumbura, made life hell for Centrals and seemed to have secured the upper ground for Northerns, but Taurai Muzarabani (4/61) and Chamu Chibhabha (3/25) did unto Northerns as was done unto them and helped to ensure that their opponents only managed to reach 186, with Elton Chigumbura's 82 being the only knock of note.

The story for the second innings was much the same, with Cremer and Chigumbura again combining to restrict Centrals' scoring and take a steady stream of wickets. Malcolm Waller again top-scored, this time with 73, as Centrals were bowled out for 180, leaving Northerns a target of 181 to win. Ed Rainsford's 4/20 made sure that wasn't an easy task, but with Ray Price smashing 58 off 77 balls and support coming from Taibu and Chigumbura, Northerns reached their target with 3 wickets to spare.

Partial scorecard below the cut.
Centrals 184 (68.3 overs; Waller 69, Cremer 4/81) & 180 (62.5 overs; Waller 73, Cremer 3/59), Northerns 186 (56.3 overs; Chigumbura 82, Muzarabani 4/61) & 181/7 (37.5 overs; Price 58, Rainsford 4/20). Northerns win by 3 wickets.

Centrals first innings
A Tichana	run out (Chakabva)	34	 
R Kahiya	b Chigumbura	        5
CJ Chibhabha	c Taibu b Chigumbura	7
R Chinyengetere	b Cremer	        17
MN Waller	b Cremer	        69 
SP Gupo	        b Cremer	        2
B Moyo	        c Price b Chigumbura	2
T Chitongo	run out (Senzere)	19
EC Rainsford	not out	                18
T Muzarabani	run out	                3
MT Chinouya	lbw b Cremer	        6
        Extras	(1 lb, 1 nb)	        2
        Total	(all out, 68.3 overs)	184

Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Kahiya, 4.5 ov), 2-27 (Chibhabha, 8.6 ov), 
3-65 (Tichana, 28.5 ov), 4-65 (Chinyengetere, 29.1 ov), 
5-71 (Gupo, 31.1 ov), 6-74 (Moyo, 34.6 ov), 
7-143 (Chitongo, 52.1 ov), 8-168 (Waller, 62.3 ov), 
9-178 (Muzarabani, 65.6 ov), 10-184 (Chinouya, 68.3 ov)

Bowling         O       M       R       W
E Chigumbura	16   	5	38	3
P Charumbira	6   	2	20	0	(1nb)
T Manasa	4   	1	7	0
AG Cremer	25.3	4	81	4
RW Price	13   	4	15	0
CT Mutombodzi	4   	0	22	0


Northerns first innings
K Kondo	        lbw b Rainsford	        6 
I Senzere	b Muzarabani	        2
RW Chakabva	lbw b Muzarabani	30
T Taibu	        lbw b Chibhabha	        6
P Charumbira	lbw b Chibhabha	        17
E Chigumbura	c Chibhabha b Chinouya	82
S Mwakayeni	c Waller b Chibhabha	1
RW Price	c Gupo b Muzarabani	9
AG Cremer	c Moyo b Muzarabani	18
CT Mutombodzi	lbw b Chinouya	        3
T Manasa	not out	0	        1
        Extras	(2 b, 3 lb, 5 nb)	10
        Total	(all out, 56.3 overs)	184

Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Kondo, 6.5 ov), 2-10 (Senzere, 7.3 ov), 
3-31 (Taibu, 12.4 ov), 4-67 (Chakabva, 30.4 ov), 
5-70 (Charumbira, 31.5 ov), 6-75 (Mwakayeni, 33.2 ov), 
7-84 (Price, 34.5 ov), 8-132 (Cremer, 49.4 ov), 
9-139 (Mutombodzi, 50.6 ov), 10-184 (Chigumbura, 56.3 ov)

Bowling         O       M       R       W
EC Rainsford	13   	4	24	1	(1nb)
T Muzarabani	15   	2	61	4
MT Chinouya	11.3	4	42	2	(2nb)
CJ Chibhabha	10   	1	25	3	(2nb)
T Chitongo	4   	0	21	0
MN Waller	3   	0	6	0


Centrals second innings
A Tichana	c Chakabva b Chigumbura 	0
SP Gupo	        run out (Mutombodzi)	        6
CJ Chibhabha	c Chakabva b Chigumbura	        24
MN Waller	c Price b Cremer	        73
R Chinyengetere	lbw b Price	                16
R Kahiya	b Price	                        24
B Moyo	c Price b Cremer	                2
T Muzarabani	c Mutombodzi b Chigumbura	4
T Chitongo	c Price b Cremer	        16
EC Rainsford	not out	                        0
MT Chinouya	c Chakabva b Price	        0
        Extras	(13 b, 2 lb)	                15
        Total	(all out, 62.5 overs)	        180

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Tichana, 0.2 ov), 2-28 (Gupo, 6.3 ov), 
3-39 (Chibhabha, 11.4 ov), 4-128 (Waller, 37.5 ov), 
5-128 (Chinyengetere, 38.6 ov), 6-131 (Moyo, 41.6 ov), 
7-146 (Muzarabani, 52.4 ov), 8-180 (Chitongo, 61.2 ov), 
9-180 (Kahiya, 62.1 ov), 10-180 (Chinouya, 62.5 ov)

Bowling         O       M       R       W
E Chigumbura	15   	3	64	3
P Charumbira	2   	1	10	0
T Manasa	4   	1	11	0
RW Price	17.5	4	20	3
AG Cremer	23   	5	59	3
CT Mutombodzi	1   	0	1	0


Northerns 2nd innings (target: 181 runs) 
K Kondo 	lbw b Rainsford 	        0 
I Senzere 	c Chitongo b Rainsford 	        3 
RW Chakabva 	c Chibhabha b Rainsford 	16 
T Taibu 	c Kahiya b Rainsford 	        25 
E Chigumbura 	c Chinouya b Muzarabani 	37 
RW Price 	run out (Chibhabha) 	        58 
S Mwakayeni 	lbw b Chibhabha 	        13 
AG Cremer 	not out 	                16 
CT Mutombodzi 	not out 	                0 
    Extras 	(b 3, lb 8, nb 2) 	        13 
    Total 	(7 wkts; 40.2 overs; 192 mins) 	181 

Did not bat: T Manasa, P Charumbira

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Kondo, 2.3 ov), 2-8 (Senzere, 4.3 ov), 
3-41 (Chakabva, 10.2 ov), 4-50 (Taibu, 12.1 ov), 
5-118 (Chigumbura, 25.6 ov), 6-156 (Mwakayeni, 33.6 ov), 
7-172 (Price, 37.5 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 	
EC Rainsford 	9 	3 	20 	4 	2.22 	
T Muzarabani 	8 	1 	40 	1 	5.00 	(1nb)
CJ Chibhabha 	8 	0 	49 	1 	6.12 	(1nb)
T Chitongo 	6 	0 	32 	0 	5.33 	
MT Chinouya 	5.2 	0 	18 	0 	3.37 	
MN Waller 	4 	0 	11 	0 	2.75