zimcricketnews.com

Day Five of the Stanbic T20, and the first match of the day was a close-fought bottom-of-the-table clash between Midwest Rhinos and Matabeleland Tuskers, with both sides needing to give their campaigns a boost if they were to keep their hopes of reaching the final alive. Tuskers won the toss and opted to field, and soon drew early blood as Rhinos lost Rikki Wessels (8) and Mluleki Nkala (0) early in the innings. Vusi Sibanda once again proved the rock around which Rhinos could base their efforts, though, adding 61, while in the lower order Malcolm Waller (33) and Ollie Rayner (24) both made useful contributions that lifted their side to 152/8 from their 20 overs - a higher total than had looked likely earlier in the morning. Chris Mpofu made the best inroads with the ball, taking 4/17 for Tuskers. The loss of Sean Williams in their first over saw Tuskers off to a wobbly start in their chase, but Gavin Ewing's 40 off 28 balls got things moving in the right direction and, despite the loss of several cheap wickets in the middle order, the side were there or thereabouts throughout their chase. It was the lower order trio of Andy Blignaut (26), Tawanda Mupariwa (19) and Keegan Meth (30*) who finished the chase off, with Meth scoring the winning runs with Tuskers needing 3 runs off the final ball to secure the win. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rhinos 152/8 (20 overs; Sibanda 61, Mpofu 4/17), Tuskers 154/8 (20 overs; Ewing 40, Cremer 2/14). Tuskers win by 2 wickets.

Mid West Rhinos innings (20 overs maximum)  	
                                                R  	M  	B  	4s  	6s  	SR
MH Wessels† 	b Mupariwa 	                8 	7 	8 	0 	1 	100.00
V Sibanda* 	b Mpofu 	                61 	63 	50 	2 	4 	122.00
ML Nkala 	lbw b Mpofu 	                0 	3 	4 	0 	0 	0.00
BRM Taylor 	b Ewing 	                11 	17 	14 	0 	0 	78.57
DI Stevens 	c Williams b Ewing 	        2 	6 	3 	0 	0 	66.66
MN Waller 	c †Coventry b Mpofu 	        33 	27 	19 	2 	2 	173.68
OP Rayner 	c Strydom b Mpofu 	        24 	19 	14 	3 	0 	171.42
AG Cremer 	c Higgins b Meth 	        3 	9 	6 	0 	0 	50.00
EC Rainsford 	not out 	                2 	6 	2 	0 	0 	100.00
	Extras 	(lb 3, w 5) 	                8 					
	Total 	(8 wickets; 20 overs; 81 mins) 	152 	(7.60 runs per over)

To bat: MT Chinouya, T Muzarabani

Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Wessels, 1.5 ov), 2-12 (Nkala, 2.4 ov), 3-41 (Taylor, 7.3 ov), 
4-48 (Stevens, 9.2 ov), 5-122 (Sibanda, 16.1 ov), 6-123 (Waller, 16.3 ov), 
7-139 (Cremer, 18.4 ov), 8-152 (Rayner, 19.6 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
CB Mpofu 	4 	0 	17 	4 	4.25 		
T Mupariwa 	3 	0 	22 	1 	7.33 		
KO Meth 	3 	0 	31 	1 	10.33 	(2w) 	
GM Ewing 	3 	0 	13 	2 	4.33 		
KM Dabengwa 	4 	0 	25 	0 	6.25 	(3w) 	
DR Higgins 	1 	0 	11 	0 	11.00 		
SC Williams 	1 	0 	15 	0 	15.00 		
AM Blignaut 	1 	0 	15 	0 	15.00


Matabeleland Tuskers innings (target: 153 runs from 20 overs)  	
                                                R  	M  	B  	4s  	6s  	SR
GM Ewing* 	lbw b Cremer 	                40 	0 	28 	5 	1 	142.85
SC Williams 	b Rainsford 	                0 	3 	2 	0 	0 	0.00
DD Ebrahim 	c Nkala b Stevens 	        19 	0 	28 	0 	0 	67.85
KM Dabengwa 	run out (Stevens) 	        4 	8 	4 	0 	0 	100.00
GM Strydom 	c Rainsford b Cremer 	        7 	12 	14 	1 	0 	50.00
CK Coventry† 	c & b Rayner 	                1 	5 	3 	0 	0 	33.33
AM Blignaut 	c Stevens b Muzarabani 	        26 	0 	17 	2 	1 	152.94
KO Meth 	not out 	                30 	0 	16 	4 	0 	187.50
T Mupariwa 	c †Wessels b Chinouya 	        19 	0 	10 	1 	1 	190.00
DR Higgins 	not out 	                0 	0 	0 	0 	0 	-
	Extras 	(lb 1, w 5, nb 2) 	        8 					
	Total 	(8 wickets; 20 overs) 	        154 	(7.70 runs per over)

To bat: CB Mpofu

Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Williams, 0.5 ov), 2-46 (Ewing, 5.5 ov), 3-58 (Dabengwa, 7.5 ov), 
4-72 (Strydom, 11.2 ov), 5-76 (Coventry, 12.3 ov), 6-81 (Ebrahim, 13.3 ov), 
7-111 (Blignaut, 16.3 ov), 8-150 (Mupariwa, 19.5 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
EC Rainsford 	2 	0 	22 	1 	11.00 	(1nb) 	
MT Chinouya 	3 	0 	21 	1 	7.00 		
T Muzarabani 	3 	0 	31 	1 	10.33 		
AG Cremer 	4 	0 	14 	2 	3.50 	(1w) 	
OP Rayner 	4 	0 	19 	1 	4.75 	(1nb, 3w) 	
DI Stevens 	3 	0 	38 	1 	12.66 	(1w) 	
ML Nkala 	1 	0 	8 	0 	8.00