zimcricketnews.com

The weather denied Midwest Rhinos the chance of achieving the victory they deserved at Harare Sports Club today. At the start of the day a draw had looked very likely, even if the rain kept away, but Mashonaland Eagles approached the day with such a negative attitude that they played into the hands of the visitors, who bowled them out soon after lunch for 165, with Mike Chinouya bowling superbly to take five wickets. But Rhinos were scarcely able to start the chase before the weather struck yet again.

Eagles, who resumed on 82 for two wickets overnight, immediately made it quite clear that, much as they needed the six points for victory to keep up with Matabeleland Tuskers, they were intent on a draw and were not interested in quick runs to try to put pressure on Rhinos in the fourth innings. There was no run in the first twelve minutes, and then Michael Thornely, trying to shoulder arms, edged a catch to the keeper off Mike Chinouya, departing for 32. His overnight partner Ryan Bishop quickly followed, also caught at the wicket off Chinouya, driving outside the off stump for 33, and the score had declined to 89 for four.

The captain, Sikandar Raza, forsook his natural game and dropped anchor, but at the other end there was s steady decline of wickets with little aggressive intent, until the seventh wicket went down for 126. Nathan Waller then came in and played some positive strokes, running up 16 off 22 balls before running himself out looking for an unlikely single. At lunch the score was 161 for eight and Rhinos appeared to have a significant advantage – if the rain kept off.

Raza, 22 off 70 balls at lunch, decided afterwards that with only two uncertain wickets left, he should open out. He hit a superb straight drive for four, but then skied a catch to midwicket for 26; the batsmen crossed and Douglas Hondo was caught at slip off the next delivery for 5, the team being all out for 165. Chinouya deserved his reward of five wickets for 45 runs. Rhinos were set 161 to win in just under two sessions.

The pitch, rather uneven and cracked, helped the bowlers, though not extravagantly, but the greatest threat to Rhinos was the possibility of rain, which had cut short play on each of the first three days, and that would certainly be on their minds. Vusi Sibanda and Steve Marillier gave Mid-West Rhinos a brisk start until Sibanda was out lbw for the second time in the match for the folly of padding up and attempting no stroke to Garwe, for 9.

The skies now began to darken and Eagles looked for ways to waste time. The batsmen for their part seemed to adopt the 'que sera sera' attitude and made no great effort to speed things up. The umpires to their credit for once kept the players on the field for as long as possible, but when a drizzle started in addition to the bad light they had to go. The score was 34 for one off ten overs. Almost inevitably, the drizzle became heavy rain and it was obvious that Rhinos would be denied the victory they deserved. The draw ends their last realistic hope of winning the Logan Cup this season. Full scorecard below the cut.
Eagles 207 (92.3 overs; Bishop 44, Muzhange 4/61) & 165 (69.5 overs; Bishop 33, Chinouya 5/45), Rhinos 212 (61.5 overs; Ballance 101*, Hondo 4/40) & 34/1 (10 overs; Marillier 12*, Garwe 1/13). Match drawn.
[Match report via ZC]

Mashonaland Eagles 1st innings 	
                                                R 	M 	B 	4s 	6s 	SR
C Zhuwao 	        b Chinouya 	        7 	32 	26 	0 	0 	26.92
SP Gupo 	        c Marillier b Muzhange 	8 	65 	40 	0 	0 	20.00
MA Thornely 	        c Nyathi b Muzhange 	42 	141 	98 	6 	0 	42.85
R Bishop† 	        c Nyathi b Mugava 	44 	155 	126 	2 	0 	34.92
Sikandar Raza* 	        c †Wessels b Muzhange 	4 	8 	7 	1 	0 	57.14
MRH Mbofana 	        c †Wessels b Muzhange 	9 	77 	58 	1 	0 	15.51
TC Mutombodzi 	        c †Wessels b Mugava 	33 	88 	59 	4 	0 	55.93
NR Waller 	        c †Wessels b Madziva 	24 	57 	51 	4 	0 	47.05
TN Garwe 	        not out 	        25 	76 	49 	4 	0 	51.02
DT Hondo 	        c †Wessels b Madziva 	5 	22 	18 	1 	0 	27.77
LT Gumunyu-Manatsa 	c Sibanda b Rainsford 	0 	45 	25 	0 	0 	0.00
	Extras 	(b 1, w 3, nb 2) 	        6 					
	Total 	(all out; 92.3 overs; 387 mins) 207 	(2.23 runs per over)

Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Zhuwao, 7.3 ov), 2-24 (Gupo, 14.3 ov), 3-80 (Thornely, 40.4 ov), 
4-88 (Sikandar Raza, 42.6 ov), 5-110 (Bishop, 53.4 ov), 6-134 (Mbofana, 64.1 ov), 
7-171 (Mutombodzi, 76.1 ov), 8-173 (Waller, 77.6 ov), 9-182 (Hondo, 83.3 ov), 
10-207 (Gumunyu-Manatsa, 92.3 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
EC Rainsford 	17.3 	7 	23 	1 	1.31 	(2nb, 1w) 	
MT Chinouya 	14 	2 	36 	1 	2.57 		
R Muzhange 	21 	3 	61 	4 	2.90 	(1w) 	
N Madziva 	20 	7 	37 	2 	1.85 	(1w) 	
SM Mugava 	20 	6 	49 	2 	2.45 		


Mid West Rhinos 1st innings 	
                                                R 	M 	B 	4s 	6s 	SR
V Sibanda 	lbw b Garwe 	                9 	19 	14 	2 	0 	64.28
SJ Marillier 	c Mutombodzi b Waller 	        26 	129 	87 	4 	0 	29.88
GS Ballance* 	not out 	                101 	272 	162 	13 	2 	62.34
R Nyathi 	lbw b Garwe 	                3 	11 	8 	0 	0 	37.50
MH Wessels† 	c Mutombodzi b Gumunyu-Manatsa 	34 	62 	44 	5 	0 	77.27
R Benade 	b Hondo 	                12 	45 	32 	0 	1 	37.50
SM Mugava 	c & b Mutombodzi 	        4 	5 	6 	0 	0 	66.66
N Madziva 	lbw b Hondo 	                1 	5 	4 	0 	0 	25.00
EC Rainsford 	c & b Hondo 	                3 	8 	10 	0 	0 	30.00
R Muzhange 	lbw b Hondo 	                0 	2 	2 	0 	0 	0.00
MT Chinouya 	c Mutombodzi b Waller 	        1 	17 	5 	0 	0 	20.00
	Extras 	(lb 14, w 1, nb 3) 	        18 					
	Total 	(all out; 61.5 overs; 292 mins) 212 	(3.42 runs per over)

Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Sibanda, 4.2 ov), 2-77 (Marillier, 27.6 ov), 3-82 (Nyathi, 30.2 ov), 
4-136 (Wessels, 42.6 ov), 5-178 (Benade, 54.4 ov), 6-183 (Mugava, 55.5 ov), 7-184 (Madziva, 56.3 ov), 
8-192 (Rainsford, 58.3 ov), 9-192 (Muzhange, 58.5 ov), 10-212 (Chinouya, 61.5 ov)

Bowling 	        O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
TN Garwe 	        12 	4 	26 	2 	2.16 		
LT Gumunyu-Manatsa 	12 	1 	48 	1 	4.00 		
NR Waller 	        12.5 	5 	22 	2 	1.71 		
DT Hondo 	        11 	5 	40 	4 	3.63 	(3nb, 1w) 	
TC Mutombodzi 	        11 	2 	50 	1 	4.54 		
MRH Mbofana 	        3 	0 	12 	0 	4.00 		


Mashonaland Eagles 2nd innings 	
                                                R 	M 	B 	4s 	6s 	SR
C Zhuwao 	        run out (Chinouya) 	16 	53 	27 	1 	0 	59.25
SP Gupo 	        c Ballance b Chinouya 	6 	24 	15 	1 	0 	40.00
MA Thornely 	        b Chinouya 	        32 	161 	121 	3 	0 	26.44
R Bishop† 	        c †Wessels b Chinouya 	33 	144 	101 	3 	0 	32.67
TN Garwe 	        b Rainsford 	        13 	84 	34 	2 	0 	38.23
Sikandar Raza* 	        c Rainsford b Chinouya 	26 	131 	74 	4 	0 	35.13
MRH Mbofana 	        lbw b Muzhange 	        7 	16 	14 	1 	0 	50.00
TC Mutombodzi 	        lbw b Muzhange 	        4 	10 	7 	0 	0 	57.14
NR Waller 	        run out (Benade) 	16 	21 	22 	2 	1 	72.72
DT Hondo 	        c Sibanda b Chinouya 	5 	6 	5 	1 	0 	100.00
LT Gumunyu-Manatsa 	not out 	        0 	1 	0 	0 	0 	-
	Extras 	(lb 3, w 3, nb 1) 	        7 					
	Total 	(all out; 69.5 overs; 332 mins) 165 	(2.36 runs per over)

Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Gupo, 5.1 ov), 2-29 (Zhuwao, 11.3 ov), 3-82 (Thornely, 42.2 ov), 
4-89 (Bishop, 44.3 ov), 5-115 (Garwe, 57.2 ov), 6-122 (Mbofana, 60.4 ov), 7-126 (Mutombodzi, 62.4 ov), 
8-152 (Waller, 67.2 ov), 9-165 (Sikandar Raza, 69.4 ov), 10-165 (Hondo, 69.5 ov)

Bowling 	O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
EC Rainsford 	27 	10 	54 	1 	2.00 	(1nb, 3w) 	
MT Chinouya 	17.5 	4 	45 	5 	2.52 		
R Muzhange 	12 	5 	26 	2 	2.16 		
N Madziva 	9 	2 	28 	0 	3.11 		
SM Mugava 	4 	1 	9 	0 	2.25 		


Mid West Rhinos 2nd innings (target: 161 runs) 	
                                                R 	M 	B 	4s 	6s 	SR
V Sibanda 	lbw b Garwe 	                9 	20 	13 	0 	0 	69.23
SJ Marillier 	not out 	                12 	51 	27 	1 	0 	44.44
GS Ballance* 	not out 	                11 	30 	20 	1 	0 	55.00
	Extras 	(w 2) 	                        2 					
	Total 	(1 wicket; 10 overs; 51 mins) 	34 	(3.40 runs per over)

Did not bat: R Nyathi, MH Wessels†, R Benade, SM Mugava, N Madziva, MT Chinouya, R Muzhange, EC Rainsford
Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Sibanda, 4.2 ov)

Bowling 	        O 	M 	R 	W 	Econ 		
TN Garwe 	        5 	1 	13 	1 	2.60 	(1w) 	
LT Gumunyu-Manatsa 	3 	0 	16 	0 	5.33 	(1w) 	
NR Waller 	        2 	1 	5 	0 	2.50 		

Match details
Toss Mashonaland Eagles, who chose to bat
Points Mid West Rhinos 1, Mashonaland Eagles 0