Rhinos Still in the Chase as Rocks Fall Again

The second match of the day pitted Southern Rocks against Midwest Rhinos. Rocks have been unlucky in this tourney, with two close losses leaving them stranded at the bottom of the table, while Rhinos have just paid the price for inconsistency. It was Rhinos who finally got the run of the good fortune today, though. Rhinos won the toss and opted to field, and suffered a run of early wickets that saw them reduced to 64/4 during the 9th over as the top order failed to find form. The pairing of Alester Maregwede (48) and Craig Ervine (62) changed the tone of the Rocks' innings, though - the pair remained at the crease for the remainder of the innings, putting on 113 from 69 balls to leave Rocks on 177/4 at the close, a score that they seemed to have a good chance of defending. Throughout the tourney, though, Rocks' main weakness has been an unthreatening bowling attack, and that was what eventually cost them today. After scoring the early scalp of Vusi Sibanda (4), there was little else to cheer about for Rocks as, led by Rikki Wessels who carried his bat for the innings with an unbeaten 86, Rhinos chased down the target with a healthy 10 balls to spare. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rocks 177/4 (20 overs; C Ervine 62*, Stevens 1/25), Rhinos 179/3 (18.2 overs; Wessels 86*, Ireland 1/28). Rhinos win by 7 wickets.

Southern Rocks innings (20 overs maximum)	
						R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
CJ Chibhabha	lbw b Stevens			7	16	14	1	0	50.00
Sikandar Raza	b Chinouya			14	22	13	3	0	107.69
SO Tikolo	run out (Sibanda)		12	15	8	2	0	150.00
SM Ervine*	c Waller b Rayner		23	17	13	2	1	176.92
A Maregwede†	not out				48	50	36	4	2	133.33
CR Ervine	not out				62	42	36	4	4	172.22
	Extras	(lb 4, w 7)			11					
	Total	(4 wickets; 20 overs; 83 mins)	177	(8.85 runs per over)

Did not bat: E Chauluka, TS Chisoro, NB Mahwire, R Ervine, AJ Ireland

Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Chibhabha, 3.4 ov), 2-27 (Sikandar Raza, 4.5 ov), 3-40 (Tikolo, 6.3 ov), 
4-64 (SM Ervine, 8.3 ov)

Bowling		O	M	R	W	Econ		
MT Chinouya	4	0	31	1	7.75	(3w)	
DI Stevens	4	0	25	1	6.25	(3w)	
T Muzarabani	3	0	29	0	9.66	(1w)	
OP Rayner	4	0	35	1	8.75		
AG Cremer	4	0	39	0	9.75		
V Sibanda	1	0	14	0	14.00		


Mid West Rhinos innings (target: 178 runs from 20 overs)	
							R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
V Sibanda*	c Tikolo b Ireland			4	3	5	1	0	80.00
MH Wessels	not out					86	74	48	10	3	179.16
BRM Taylor†	c Mahwire b Chibhabha			28	28	24	3	0	116.66
BM Chapungu	b Sikandar Raza				15	14	13	1	0	115.38
DI Stevens	not out					43	26	20	7	1	215.00
	Extras	(b 1, lb 1, w 1)			3					
	Total	(3 wickets; 18.2 overs; 74 mins)	179	(9.76 runs per over)

Did not bat: AG Cremer, OP Rayner, MT Chinouya, MN Waller, F Kasteni, T Muzarabani

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Sibanda, 0.5 ov), 2-71 (Taylor, 8.4 ov), 3-100 (Chapungu, 11.6 ov)

Bowling		O	M	R	W	Econ		
AJ Ireland	3	0	28	1	9.33		
Sikandar Raza	4	0	34	1	8.50	(1w)	
NB Mahwire	1	0	11	0	11.00		
SO Tikolo	3	0	28	0	9.33		
CJ Chibhabha	4	0	37	1	9.25		
SM Ervine	2.2	0	23	0	9.85		
R Ervine	1	0	16	0	16.00