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Midwest Rhinos beat Southern Rocks by a convincing 8 wickets in the first of two Faithwear matches today, and in doing so left the door to the semi-finals open for Tuskers, who were still in with a shout of winning their own match in Harare when Rhinos claimed victory. A wet outfield had delayed the start of play enough for the match to be reduced to twenty overs per side, and it was Rocks who were given the chance to set the pace of play after being put in by Rhinos. It was only the Kenyan pair of Steve Tikolo (36) and Thomas Odoyo that put up much in the way of fight for Rocks, though, as a lower-order collapse saw the side restricted to 131/8 from their 20 overs, with five batsmen failing to reach double figures. Wickets for Rhinos were fairly evenly-spread, with Ed Rainsford, Taurai Muzarabani and Graeme Cremer all claiming two apiece.

Requiring 132 to win, then, Rhinos set about their task with a reasonable dose of caution, particularly after the early loss of Bothwell Chapungu, who hit his own wicket while on 7. Riki Wessels (74*) and Brendan Taylor (32) then began a well-paced innings that edged Rhinos slowly but surely towards their target. The loss of Taylor with the score on 103 then brought Vusi Sibanda to the middle, who saw the innings out with Wessels as the target was reached with 5 balls to spare.

No change in the league standings as a result of this match, but a morale-boosting win for Rhinos ahead of the semi-final that they're now assured of a place in. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rocks 131/8 (20/20 overs; Tikolo 36, Muzarabani 2/19), Rhinos 132/2 (19.1/20 overs; Wessels 74*, Machiri 1/8). Rhinos win by 8 wickets.

Southern Rocks innings (20 overs maximum)  	
                                                R  	M  	B  	4s  	6s  	SR
T Machiri 	c Chapungu b Rainsford 	        12 	14 	13 	0 	1 	92.30
E Chauluka 	c Lewis b Muzarabani 	        4 	20 	10 	0 	0 	40.00
SO Tikolo* 	c Higgins b Waller 	        36 	30 	23 	4 	2 	156.52
CR Ervine 	c Taylor b Lewis 	        1 	5 	2 	0 	0 	50.00
TM Odoyo 	b Rainsford 	                28 	43 	32 	2 	0 	87.50
T Chitongo 	c Higgins b Cremer 	        19 	13 	19 	1 	1 	100.00
TS Chisoro 	c †Wessels b Cremer 	        12 	13 	8 	0 	1 	150.00
R Mutumbami† 	not out 	                2 	14 	3 	0 	0 	66.66
NB Mahwire 	c Kasteni b Muzarabani 	        2 	13 	6 	0 	0 	33.33
R Chinyengetere not out 	                7 	3 	5 	1 	0 	140.00
	Extras 	(b 2, lb 3, w 2, nb 1) 	        8 					
	Total 	(8 wickets; 20 overs) 	        131 	(6.55 runs per over)

Did not bat: BV Vitori

Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Chauluka, 3.3 ov), 2-25 (Machiri, 4.2 ov), 3-33 (Ervine, 5.1 ov), 
4-69 (Tikolo, 10.1 ov), 5-99 (Chitongo, 15.5 ov), 6-108 (Odoyo, 16.4 ov), 7-120 (Chisoro, 17.5 ov), 
8-123 (Mahwire, 18.6 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
EC Rainsford 	4 	0 	26 	2 	6.50 	(1nb, 2w) 	
T Muzarabani 	3 	0 	19 	2 	6.33 		
JM Lewis 	3 	0 	21 	1 	7.00 		
D Higgins 	3 	0 	22 	0 	7.33 		
MN Waller 	3 	0 	14 	1 	4.66 		
AG Cremer 	4 	0 	24 	2 	6.00 		


Mid West Rhinos innings (target: 132 runs from 20 overs) 	
                                                R 	M 	B 	4s 	6s 	SR
BM Chapungu 	hit wicket b Mahwire 	        7 	21 	17 	1 	0 	41.17
MH Wessels† 	not out 	                74 	0 	52 	7 	1 	142.30
BRM Taylor 	c Chitongo b Machiri 	        32 	39 	33 	1 	1 	96.96
V Sibanda* 	not out 	                12 	0 	14 	1 	0 	85.71
	Extras 	(b 3, lb 2, w 1, nb 1) 	        7 					
	Total 	(2 wickets; 19.1 overs) 	132 	(6.88 runs per over)

Did not bat: EC Rainsford, T Muzarabani, AG Cremer, JM Lewis, D Higgins, F Kasteni, MN Waller

Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Chapungu, 4.5 ov), 2-103 (Taylor, 14.4 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
NB Mahwire 	4 	1 	16 	1 	4.00 		
TM Odoyo 	4 	0 	29 	0 	7.25 		
BV Vitori 	2 	0 	22 	0 	11.00 	(1nb) 	
SO Tikolo 	3 	0 	23 	0 	7.66 		
TS Chisoro 	1 	0 	9 	0 	9.00 	(1w) 	
T Chitongo 	3 	0 	20 	0 	6.66 		
T Machiri 	2.1 	0 	8 	1 	3.69