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After looking like a dull draw on the third and fourth day of this five-day final, the Logan Cup final unexpectedly sprang to life on the final day, as Midwest Rhinos came close to pulling off what would have been an incredible victory.

The miracle did not quite happen, but the day belonged to the underdogs from start to finish. Firstly superb batting by Rikki Wessels and Graeme Cremer enabled them to declare their second innings closed, and then, due to good bowling and fielding and some very poor batting by the Mashonaland Eagles top order, they broke through and had the newly crowned champions struggling to save the match to the very end. In the end only the fighting spirit and skill of Forster Mutizwa and Mark Mbofana saw them through to safety at 67 for six wickets - and the Logan Cup trophy.

Overnight Mid West were 174 for five; they had not looked like making a bid for victory on the previous day and now they were in real danger of defeat, without much batting left. But Wessels was still there, and was joined by Cremer. Wessels was nearly caught off an aerial cut early on, the ball just evading the fielder, but perhaps he too was afraid of his team subsiding, as he batted more positively this morning and went to his fifty off 114 balls. Cremer was at first concerned solely with defence, and it took him a full hour and a half to reach double figures, which came with a pull for four off Douglas Hondo; he celebrated with a straight drive for another boundary next ball. The pair added 92 during the morning session, and no wicket fell.

The pair continued in good style after lunch, with Wessels reverse-sweeping Raymond Price for three off the second ball after lunch. Cremer reached his fifty off 118 balls, and this was closely followed by Wessels' century off 176; he celebrated with a straight six off Greg Lamb. Shortly afterwards, knowing a declaration was imminent, Cremer gave his wicket away, stumped off Price, for 56, and the players left the field. The total was 335 for six wickets declared, and the pair had added an invaluable 161. Wessels was unbeaten with 108 and Price finished with one wicket for 43 off 33.3 overs, 17 of them maidens.

Perhaps the problem with Mashonaland was that they didn't actually need to win this match to secure the Logan Cup, having topped the log, and so their policy was one of "We'll see how it goes before trying for victory." They needed 249 to win off a minimum of 44 overs, and they wanted to take no risk of losing the match. Perhaps this double-mindedness distracted them. Once again their opening partnership failed, both openers falling for 7 with the total at 18, and both caught at second slip, Prince Masvaure off Taurai Muzarabani and Ishmael Senzere off Cremer. Moments later Ryan Butterworth (1) mistimed a pull to midwicket, Mid West suddenly glimpsed victory, and tea was taken at 21 for three.

One would have expected the powerful, experienced Mashonaland side to take the situation calmly, play soundly and make sure of the draw on a good pitch, especially with the presence at the crease of their captain Elton Chigumbura, whose calm mature batting had always saved the situation for his side earlier in the season when the match was in the balance. Chigumbura got off the mark with a pull for six of Muzarabani, and then went for a big hit off Cremer, only to sky the ball to mid-off and depart for 10. When Regis Chakabva was lbw to the googly later in the same over, Mashonaland were 36 for five in the thirteenth over and the alarm bells were really ringing now.

Still in was Forster Mutizwa, though not looking very secure, and Greg Lamb, with a groin injury, had yet to bat. If there was to be a result, only Midwest could win now. Could Mashonaland survive their unexpected crisis? Ed Rainsford replaced Muzarabani, but he could not repeat his magic of the previous day, perhaps trying to bowl too fast and pitching too short. Still, Mutizwa nearly pulled a catch to mid-on, but then the batsmen settled in and looked increasingly solid, although still having the occasional close call. Surprisingly, Mid West accepted a draw with six overs still to be bowled; having done so much in one day, they did not pursue it right to the end. Cremer finished with three for 20 off 17 overs. Mutizwa faced 102 balls for his 18, Mbofana 84 for his 8 runs, and both were undefeated, having spent 99 precious minutes together. At the last ditch, they saved the Logan Cup for Mashonaland. Photos and full scorecard below the cut.
Rhinos 364 (118.2 overs; Taylor 131, Masvaure 3/49) & 335/6 decl (112.3 overs; Wessels 108*, Butterworth 2/26), Eagles 451 (168.1 overs; Lamb 159, Rainsford 6/66) & 67/5 (40 overs; Mutizwa 18*, Cremer 3/20). Match drawn.
[Source: ZC. All photographs in this article ©ZC.]

Alan Butcher & Peter Chingoka present the winners' cheque to Eagles captain Elton Chigumbura, with Eagles CEO Hugo Ribatika

Eagles celebrate their tournament win

The victorious Eagles squad

Midwest Rhinos 1st innings  	
                                                        R  	M  	B  	4s  	6s  	SR
I Chikunya 	lbw b Masvaure 	                        20 	56 	40 	4 	0 	50.00
F Kasteni 	c †Chakabva b Chigumbura 	        1 	9 	10 	0 	0 	10.00
BRM Taylor 	lbw b Price 	                        131 	240 	155 	20 	0 	84.51
V Sibanda* 	lbw b Masvaure 	                        28 	108 	72 	3 	0 	38.88
MN Waller 	c & b Lamb 	                        54 	116 	88 	7 	0 	61.36
MH Wessels† 	run out (Chigumbura) 	                27 	77 	71 	1 	1 	38.02
AG Cremer 	c Hondo b Mbofana 	                63 	191 	155 	5 	0 	40.64
EC Rainsford 	st †Chakabva b Price 	                1 	7 	6 	0 	0 	16.66
T Muzarabani 	run out (Chigumbura) 	                18 	54 	50 	2 	0 	36.00
SM Mugava 	c †Chakabva b Masvaure 	                4 	29 	19 	0 	0 	21.05
MT Chinouya 	not out 	                        2 	55 	45 	0 	0 	4.44
	Extras 	(b 1, lb 3, w 9, nb 2) 	                15 					
	Total 	(all out; 118.2 overs; 473 mins) 	364 	(3.07 runs per over)

Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Kasteni, 2.4 ov), 2-47 (Chikunya, 13.3 ov), 3-144 (Sibanda, 37.4 ov), 
4-224 (Taylor, 55.6 ov), 5-256 (Waller, 66.4 ov), 6-287 (Wessels, 79.6 ov), 7-291 (Rainsford, 81.4 ov), 
8-322 (Muzarabani, 97.5 ov), 9-337 (Mugava, 104.3 ov), 10-364 (Cremer, 118.2 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
E Chigumbura 	22 	7 	50 	1 	2.27 		
DT Hondo 	19 	3 	77 	0 	4.05 	(2nb) 	
TN Garwe 	9 	1 	44 	0 	4.88 	(3w) 	
P Masvaure 	11 	1 	49 	3 	4.45 	(3w) 	
MRH Mbofana 	13.2 	2 	49 	1 	3.67 	(2w) 	
RW Price 	31 	12 	45 	2 	1.45 		
GA Lamb 	13 	1 	46 	1 	3.53 		


Mashonaland Eagles 1st innings 	
                                                        R 	M 	B 	4s 	6s 	SR
P Masvaure 	c Taylor b Rainsford 	                42 	132 	98 	5 	0 	42.85
I Senzere 	c Chinouya b Rainsford 	                2 	31 	20 	0 	0 	10.00
F Mutizwa 	c †Wessels b Chinouya 	                7 	23 	11 	0 	0 	63.63
RE Butterworth 	b Rainsford 	                        20 	92 	65 	3 	0 	30.76
GA Lamb 	b Muzarabani 	                        159 	454 	352 	20 	1 	45.17
E Chigumbura* 	b Kasteni 	                        105 	281 	208 	12 	1 	50.48
RW Chakabva† 	lbw b Cremer 	                        74 	259 	204 	7 	0 	36.27
MRH Mbofana 	c Cremer b Rainsford 	                9 	76 	50 	0 	0 	18.00
TN Garwe 	lbw b Rainsford 	                0 	2 	2 	0 	0 	0.00
RW Price 	b Rainsford 	                        0 	15 	13 	0 	0 	0.00
DT Hondo 	not out 	                        1 	6 	5 	0 	0 	20.00
	Extras 	(b 6, lb 6, w 1, nb 19) 	        32 					
	Total 	(all out; 168.1 overs; 688 mins) 	451 	(2.68 runs per over)

Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Senzere, 6.5 ov), 2-24 (Mutizwa, 11.1 ov), 3-76 (Masvaure, 30.2 ov), 
4-85 (Butterworth, 34.1 ov), 5-296 (Chigumbura, 104.1 ov), 6-400 (Lamb, 145.2 ov), 
7-445 (Mbofana, 163.2 ov), 8-445 (Garwe, 163.4 ov), 9-448 (Price, 167.1 ov), 10-451 (Chakabva, 168.1 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
EC Rainsford 	32 	12 	66 	6 	2.06 	(8nb) 	
T Muzarabani 	23 	8 	75 	1 	3.26 	(6nb) 	
MT Chinouya 	20 	6 	59 	1 	2.95 		
AG Cremer 	57.1 	15 	138 	1 	2.41 	(3nb) 	
SM Mugava 	17 	2 	57 	0 	3.35 	(1nb) 	
F Kasteni 	3 	0 	9 	1 	3.00 		
BRM Taylor 	5 	0 	15 	0 	3.00 	(1nb) 	
V Sibanda 	10 	3 	20 	0 	2.00 	(1w) 	
MN Waller 	1 	1 	0 	0 	0.00 		
	

Mid West Rhinos 2nd innings 	
                                                        R 	M 	B 	4s 	6s 	SR
I Chikunya 	c & b Butterworth 	                52 	211 	158 	7 	0 	32.91
F Kasteni 	c †Chakabva b Hondo 	                0 	6 	3 	0 	0 	0.00
BRM Taylor 	c Chigumbura b Garwe 	                45 	154 	96 	7 	0 	46.87
V Sibanda* 	c †Chakabva b Garwe 	                1 	14 	9 	0 	0 	11.11
MN Waller 	c †Mutizwa b Butterworth 	        42 	92 	97 	4 	0 	43.29
MH Wessels† 	not out 	                        108 	228 	180 	9 	1 	60.00
AG Cremer 	st †Chakabva b Price 	                56 	174 	135 	5 	0 	41.48
	Extras 	(b 16, lb 6, w 7, nb 2) 	        31 					
	Total 	(6 wickets dec; 112.3 overs; 440 mins) 	335 	(2.97 runs per over)

Did not bat: EC Rainsford, MT Chinouya, T Muzarabani, SM Mugava

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Kasteni, 1.3 ov), 2-104 (Taylor, 35.1 ov), 3-106 (Sibanda, 39.1 ov), 
4-120 (Chikunya, 49.4 ov), 5-174 (Waller, 70.3 ov), 6-335 (Cremer, 112.3 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
E Chigumbura 	11 	1 	46 	0 	4.18 	(1w) 	
DT Hondo 	11 	2 	40 	1 	3.63 	(1w) 	
P Masvaure 	12 	4 	39 	0 	3.25 	(2w) 	
MRH Mbofana 	10 	2 	15 	0 	1.50 		
RW Price 	33.3 	17 	43 	1 	1.28 		
TN Garwe 	15 	3 	57 	2 	3.80 	(1w) 	
RE Butterworth 	7 	3 	26 	2 	3.71 	(2nb) 	
F Mutizwa 	5 	0 	13 	0 	2.60 	(1nb) 	
GA Lamb 	7 	0 	32 	0 	4.57 	(1w) 	
RW Chakabva 	1 	0 	2 	0 	2.00 		
	

Mashonaland Eagles 2nd innings (target: 249 runs) 	
                                                        R 	M 	B 	4s 	6s 	SR
P Masvaure 	c Taylor b Muzarabani 	                7 	30 	17 	0 	0 	41.17
I Senzere 	c Taylor b Cremer 	                7 	34 	23 	0 	0 	30.43
F Mutizwa 	not out 	                        18 	148 	102 	3 	0 	17.64
RE Butterworth 	c Kasteni b Muzarabani 	                1 	4 	7 	0 	0 	14.28
E Chigumbura* 	c Rainsford b Cremer 	                10 	20 	13 	1 	1 	76.92
RW Chakabva† 	lbw b Cremer 	                        0 	3 	3 	0 	0 	0.00
MRH Mbofana 	not out 	                        8 	99 	84 	1 	0 	9.52
	Extras 	(b 4, lb 3, nb 9) 	                16 					
	Total 	(5 wickets; 40 overs; 159 mins) 	67 	(1.67 runs per over)

Did not bat: GA Lamb, TN Garwe, RW Price, DT Hondo

Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Masvaure, 5.5 ov), 2-18 (Senzere, 6.2 ov), 3-19 (Butterworth, 7.3 ov), 
4-36 (Chigumbura, 12.1 ov), 5-36 (Chakabva, 12.4 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
EC Rainsford 	7 	1 	12 	0 	1.71 	(3nb) 	
T Muzarabani 	9 	2 	24 	2 	2.66 	(5nb) 	
AG Cremer 	17 	10 	20 	3 	1.17 	(1nb) 	
SM Mugava 	2 	2 	0 	0 	0.00 		
BRM Taylor 	2 	2 	0 	0 	0.00 		
V Sibanda 	2 	1 	4 	0 	2.00 		
MN Waller 	1 	1 	0 	0 	0.00