Vipers Defanged as Mountaineers Go Top

Day Six, and we're on the downward run towards the final in the Stanbic T20. The first matchup of the day was Mountaineers v Desert Vipers, with both sides in with a shout of a final spot depending how the result of this match went. Mountaineers won the toss and chose to bat, and openers Bernard Mlambo and Hamilton Masakadza made a good start, putting on 81 for the opening wicket before Mlambo departed for 24. Masakadza went on to score 52 himself before being bowled by Williams, and while the wickets began to flow fairly regularly from there (Stuart Matsikenyeri's 32 was the best of the rest) the side were still able to push on to 172/8 from their allotted overs. In reply, Vipers lost Rudolph (5) early, but then Raymond van Schoor and Craig Williams set off at a cracking pace - their run-rate was over 10/over until van Schoor departed for 31, while Williams hung around a while longer, adding 35 himself before being bowled by Mushangwe in the 11th over with the score on 91. At that point Vipers were well-placed, but that was also the point where the wheels fell off their innings somewhat, with a number of quick wickets making sure that they simply weren't able to get scoring again at anywhere near the required rate. Their innings finally petered out with the side closing on 150/9 after their 30 overs, handing Mountaineers a convincing 21-run yet. Full scorecard below the cut.
Mountaineers 172/8 (20 overs; H Masakadza 52, Williams 3/28), Vipers 150/9 (20 overs; Williams 35, Maruma 3/24). Mountaineers win by 21 runs.

Mountaineers innings (20 overs maximum)  	
                                                R  	M  	B  	4s  	6s  	SR
B Mlambo 	c †van Schoor b Palladino 	24 	46 	27 	1 	0 	88.88
H Masakadza* 	b Williams 	                52 	55 	40 	2 	4 	130.00
T Maruma 	c Klazinga b Williams 	        25 	20 	16 	4 	0 	156.25
T Taibu† 	c Pretorius b Williams 	        8 	9 	7 	0 	0 	114.28
S Matsikenyeri 	not out 	                32 	22 	16 	2 	2 	200.00
GM Smith 	run out (Williams) 	        10 	8 	4 	0 	0 	250.00
P Utseya 	c Klazinga b Palladino 	        0 	1 	1 	0 	0 	0.00
SW Masakadza 	b Palladino 	                7 	9 	7 	0 	0 	100.00
DT Tiripano 	run out (Rudolph) 	        1 	1 	1 	0 	0 	100.00
	Extras 	(lb 5, w 8) 	                13 					
	Total 	(8 wickets; 20 overs; 88 mins) 	172 	(8.60 runs per over)

To bat: N Mushangwe, T Chitara

Fall of wickets: 1-81 (Mlambo, 9.5 ov), 2-101 (H Masakadza, 12.3 ov), 3-117 (Taibu, 14.4 ov), 
4-121 (Maruma, 14.6 ov), 5-139 (Smith, 16.4 ov), 6-169 (Utseya, 19.3 ov), 
7-169 (SW Masakadza, 19.4 ov), 8-171 (Tiripano, 19.6 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
L Klazinga 	4 	0 	23 	0 	5.75 	(1w) 	
C Viljoen 	4 	0 	26 	0 	6.50 	(7w) 	
D Pretorius 	1 	0 	14 	0 	14.00 		
AP Palladino 	4 	0 	30 	3 	7.50 		
C Williams 	4 	0 	28 	3 	7.00 		
T Verwey 	2 	0 	28 	0 	14.00 		
BM Scholtz 	1 	0 	18 	0 	18.00 	


Desert Vipers innings (target: 172 runs from 20 overs)  	
                                                R  	M  	B  	4s  	6s  	SR
R van Schoor† 	b Smith 	                31 	0 	19 	4 	0 	163.15
GJ Rudolph 	c †Taibu b Tiripano 	        5 	0 	4 	1 	0 	125.00
C Williams* 	b Mushangwe 	                35 	0 	29 	1 	2 	120.68
D Pretorius 	lbw b Maruma 	                19 	0 	14 	2 	1 	135.71
RN Manyande 	c H Masakadza b Mushangwe 	2 	0 	5 	0 	0 	40.00
T Verwey 	c Tiripano b Maruma 	        11 	0 	11 	2 	0 	100.00
AP Palladino 	b Maruma 	                6 	0 	11 	0 	0 	54.54
L Klazinga 	run out 	                3 	0 	3 	0 	0 	100.00
C Viljoen 	not out 	                19 	0 	17 	1 	1 	111.76
BM Scholtz 	c †Taibu b Chitara 	        7 	0 	6 	1 	0 	116.66
WJ Groenewald 	not out 	                2 	0 	2 	0 	0 	100.00
	Extras 	(lb 2, w 7, nb 1) 	        10 					
	Total 	(9 wickets; 20 overs) 	        150 	(7.50 runs per over)

Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Rudolph, 1.3 ov), 2-54 (van Schoor, 5.4 ov), 3-91 (Williams, 10.4 ov), 
4-97 (Pretorius, 11.2 ov), 5-97 (Manyande, 12.3 ov), 6-117 (Verwey, 15.2 ov), 
7-117 (Palladino, 15.3 ov), 8-123 (Klazinga, 16.4 ov), 9-145 (Scholtz, 19.2 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
T Chitara 	3 	0 	23 	1 	7.66 		
DT Tiripano 	3 	0 	28 	1 	9.33 		
SW Masakadza 	1 	0 	18 	0 	18.00 	(3w) 	
GM Smith 	2 	0 	10 	1 	5.00 	(1w) 	
P Utseya 	3 	0 	22 	0 	7.33 	(1nb, 1w) 	
T Maruma 	4 	0 	24 	3 	6.00 		
N Mushangwe 	4 	0 	23 	2 	5.75 	(2w)