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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]

Rocks' woeful performances in the Logan Cup this season have already had some people question their place in the current setup - most notably in one of ZC's own recent match reports - and this week's double collapse against Tuskers won't help them silence any critics. Rocks tumbled to 83 in their first innings, with Glenn Querl (5/28) leading the carnage on that occasion, but Rocks' bowlers managed to extract a measure of revenge when they came to bowl themselves - but for the efforts of Gavin Ewing (53) and Richard Jones (62) Tuskers wouldn't have done much better - but their final total of 177 eventually proved to be good enough on the day. Tendai Chisoro and Tafadzwa Kamungozi took 3 wickets apiece to lead the Rocks' bowling figures.

Come their second knock, Rocks at least managed to outscore their first innings, but being bowled out for 125 they left Tuskers chasing a target of just 32 runs to win, which they reached without loss to secure a 10 wicket win. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rocks 83 (41 overs; Maunze 41, Querl 5/28) & 125 (53.5 overs; Maunze 43, Ncube 7/35), Tuskers 177 (61.3 overs; Jones 62, Kamungozi 3/19) & 36/0 (9.1 overs; Duffin 26*, Horton 9*). Matabeleland Tuskers win by 10 wickets.

Played six, lost six - Southern Rocks' woeful run in the Logan Cup continued this round, this time to a 7-wicket defeat at the hands of the Midwest Rhinos - although this match at least made it into the fourth day. It's an improvement over the last round's two. Batting first, Rocks posted 178, with Hilary Matanga (63) doing the bulk of the work, while Ed Rainsford found some form to take 5/35 for Eagles. Brian Vitori similarly did well with the ball for Rocks, taking 5/90 but with precious little support from his team-mates, he couldn't keep a lid on Rhinos, who went on to score 444/8 before declaring, with Riki Wessels and Gary Ballance both claiming tons along the way.

Rocks then needed 266 to at least make Rhinos bat again, and given their form this season you maybe wouldn't have bet on them to reach that target, but led by Richmond Mutumbami's 92 they made a good run of their second innings, managing to post 313 - Graeme Cremer took 5/107 along the way - but with that leaving Rhinos a target of just 48, the end wasn't long in coming. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rocks 178 (68.2 overs; Matanga 63, Rainsford 5/35) & 313 (93 overs; Mutumbami 92, Cremer 5/107), Rhinos 444/8 decl (112.5 overs; Wessels 133, Ballance 124, Vitori 5/90) & 48/3 (10.5 overs; Waller 34*, Vitori 2/19). Midwest Rhinos win by 7 wickets.

While Mountaineers seemed at one point in the first innings to have Eagles by the throat, a ton by Eagles' Elton Chigumbura and a spectacular second-innings collapse by Mountaineers saw Eagles eventually emerge victors. Mountaineers had posted 219 in their first innings, before going on to reduce Eagles to 34/5 before Chigumbura came to the crease. His presence allowed Eagles to rebuild, and they went on to secure a first-innings lead before being bowled out for 238. At that point, it all went horrible wrong for Mountaineers, though, as Kyle Jarvie (4/18), Tatenda Gumunyu-Manatsa (3/9) and Chigumbura (3/20) blew through their batsmen, bowling the side out for a miserable 55, and while Eagles did manage to lose 3 wickets on the way to their target of 37, the result was never in doubt. If there was a bright spot for Mountaineers, is was the performance of Shingi Masakadza, who took a combined 9/75 in the match, but overall it'll be a match they'll want to forget. Full scorecard below the cut.
Mountaineers 219 (82.5 overs; Pettini 55, Gumunyu-Manatsa 4/33) & 55 (26.3 overs; Utseya 11, Chatara 11*, Jarvis 4/18), Eagles 238 (74.3 overs; Chigumbura 121, S Masakadza 6/54) & 39/3 (8.5 overs; Bishop 15*, S Masakadza 3/21). Mashonaland Eagles win by 7 wickets.

The second Logan Cup match of the round ended in a draw in Bulawayo, as rain - which had affected several days' play already - led to the abandonment of the final day of the match. Tuskers came away with the first-innings point, which may yet prove significant as it leaves them with a one-point lead over Eagles at the top of the tournament table, with both sides having 3 matches yet to play.

Put into bat by Mountaineers, Tuskers posted 236 from their first innings, with Steven Trenchard (62) and Paul Horton (50) both contributing significant knocks; Shingi Masakadza and Tendai Chatara took 3 apiece for Mountaineers to help contain Mountaineers to a respectable total. But Mountaineers then came up against an on-fire Glen Querl, who took 5/29 during the Goats' reply and, aided by Keegan Meth (3/50), helped bowl the visitors out for a poor 129. An early collapse in the Tuskers second innings saw Tuskers waste their initiative, but then the rain had the final say with Tuskers on 43/4, and that was the end of that. Full scorecard below the cut.
Tuskers 236 (89.4 overs; Trecnahrd 62, S Masakadza 3/57) & 43/4 (17 overs; Horton 21, Tiripano 3/12), Mountaineers 129 (54.1 overs; Maruma 27, Querl 5/29). Match drawn.

Southern Rocks hit rock bottom today as they went down to a humiliating innings defeat at the hands of Mashonaland Eagles in only two days. Superb bowling from Kyle Jarvis was the main factor in rolling the visitors twice in less than a day’s play, but, well as he bowled, he may never have it as easy again in his entire career. He achieved the very rare feat in modern cricket of taking a ten-wicket haul in a single day and finished with remarkable match figures of ten for 53.

Without the injured Tatenda Taibu to add spirit to their batting, Southern Rocks looked a totally demoralized team. They may not be a strong team, but they usually hold their own in one-day cricket; in the four-day game they bat in particular as if they were on death row. This defeatist attitude has brought them disgrace yet again, so much so that right now they are a liability to the Logan Cup competition. Unless the players themselves get their heads right they are doomed to more dismal performances in what remains of the season.

The day began with Southern Rocks beginning their response to the Mashonaland Eagles total of 335, but their batsmen immediately showed they were quite unprepared mentally to build on the advantage given the team by their bowlers the previous evening. Conditions were rather testing early on, with Tatenda Gumunyu-Manatsa and Kyle Jarvis able to get a bit of movement and lift, but that did not excuse the dismal collapse that followed. Southern Rocks, like Mashonaland, have had endless trouble with their opening partnership, and Roy Kaia, the most successful in that position so far this season, has been moved down to number six. Southern Rocks might do well to follow the example of Mashonaland Eagles and promote a determined tail-ender after today’s display.

Prince Masvaure and Chamu Chibhabha both fell to the second balls they received, from Jarvis, edging into the slips, with the experienced Chibhabha playing a particularly flighty stroke. Sam Mwakayeni continued his sad run of low scores with 5, and Alister Maregwede suffered a vicious lifter first ball, which he could only fend off to third slip. After half an hour’s play Southern Rocks were facing disaster at 6 for four wickets.

Richie Mutumbami fought back briefly to make 12 before giving his wicket away with a nudge into the slips, and Tendai Chisoro, often a fighter, ran himself out foolishly for 7. The score slumped to 43 for seven. But Kaia was still there and he laid into Raymond Price’s bowling when the spinner came on, while Tinashe Panyangara also batted with spirit. At lunch the score had progressed to 69 for seven, but both fell quickly after the interval, with Price luring Kaia (26) out of his crease to be stumped for the highest score of the innings.

The last pair of Tanyaradzwa Munyaradzi and Brian Vitori showed some spirit in adding 23 for the last wicket, but Jarvis came back to finish off the innings for 98 when he bowled Vitori. His figures were five for 23, after being four for 10 at one stage, as the last pair gave him some stick. With Vitori coming in at number 11, Southern Rocks have no serious tail; their problem is that they don’t seem to have a serious top order either.

Naturally Southern Rocks had to follow on 237 runs behind, and the main question seemed only to be whether they could survive the day. First impressions were that this was unlikely, as they again showed little appetite for a fightback. Jarvis continued to wreak havoc. In his first over Mwakayeni lobbed a simple catch to mid-off; in his third he removed Masvaure and Mutumbami with successive deliveries. Kaia went in his fifth. Chibhabha, after a lethargic start, fought back for a while with 22, but then Jarvis burst through his defence and spectacularly bowled him to take his tenth wicket of the day, just after tea.

Chisoro played with determination for a while to make 20, but even those batsmen who did show some fight failed to stay for the long haul. When Jarvis was rested, several of the batsmen seemed to have a death wish in trying to sweep Price, who picked up two easy wickets from that shot, including Chisoro, and almost had more. Panyangara, however, considers he should bat higher in the order and made his point with some powerful and determined strokes. He had some lucky escapes from some mishits, but his innings of 39 off 43 off 30 balls (four fours, three sixes) was by some way the highest in both innings.

There were 24 overs still remaining in the day when Southern Rocks were bowled out for the second time. In this innings Jarvis took five for 30, while Price had three victims. Southern Rocks have some serious soul-searching to do over the New Year, and the team needs a new spirit if it is to avoid further disgrace in the rest of the season. The bowlers came out of this match with some credit, especially Vitori and Panyangara, but the fielding was lacking and the batting abysmal. Full scorecard below the cut.
Eagles 335 (88.5 overs; Mutizwa 118, Vitori 5/26), Rocks 98 (29.4 overs; Kaia 26, Jarvis 5/23) & 148 (34 overs; Panyangara 43, Jarvis 5/30). Mashonaland Eagles win by an innings and 89 runs.
[Match report via ZC]

Mountaineers coasted to an easy innings victory over the sadly depleted Southern Rocks team on the third day of their match at Harare Sports Club. The match was over shortly after tea, a good all-round performance by the home side.

Mountaineers continued their innings in the morning from their overnight score of 389 for five, with Timycen Maruma on 112 and Prosper Utseya on 63. They batted on for over an hour, perhaps with the batsmen’s individual landmarks in view. They pushed the score on briskly without looking to take the bowling to pieces, but both failed to reach their next landmarks, due to some good bowling from Tanyaradzwa Munyaradzi. He bowled Utseya for 94, the batsman petulantly swatting his stumps down as he left the crease, and then a faster ball bowled out the Mountaineers captain. Maruma had made 149 off 223 balls, with 17 fours and three huge leg-side sixes.

At this point he declared, with a total of 467 for seven wickets and a lead on 321 on the first innings. Overall the best bowler was Prince Masvaure, with two for 44 off 16 overs, the best figures and the most economical, but he was not used on the third morning.

With more than five sessions to go and negligible chance of significant rain, Southern Rocks were in a seemingly hopeless position. In the second over they lost Sam Mwakayeni (2), shouldering arms and having his stumps shattered by a ball from Donald Tiripano. This was followed, though, by Southern Rocks’ best batting of the match – in fact, their ONLY good batting period of the match. Roy Kaia and Robertson Chinyengetere batted soundly until lunch, when the score was 54 for one.

After lunch Kaia began to open up and play some fine attacking shots, while his partner contented himself with blocking up the other end. In no time Kaia had reached his fifty, a landmark he achieved with a superb six over long-off. The pair took the score to 108, the first time this season Southern Rocks had reached 100 with only one wicket down in the Logan Cup. But then, after such fine batting by Kaia in particular, they fell in successive overs. First Chinyengetere played a weak stroke outside the off stump and was caught at the wicket off Shingi Masakadza for 30; then Kaia, with 69, drove a low catch straight to long-on off Utseya.

The middle order showed little fight, and soon the score was 129 for six. At this stage Stanley Marisa and Tendai Chisoro showed some fight, staying together to make the score 160 at tea. Shortly afterwards, though, Chisoro fell for 19, the next two batsmen came and went, and the closing stages were only enlivened by some defiant blows from the last man Taurai Muzarabani, who hit three sixes in scoring 19 not out off eight balls. Then Marisa’s defiant innings ended at 29, lbw to Natsai Mushangwe, and the team total had at least passed 200.

After their disastrous start to the season, Mountaineers are now on their way up and it is to be hoped they have regained the confidence to take on the stronger teams again. For Southern Rocks, virtually the only way is up, but to do that their top players need to start off by staying fit. Scorecard below the cut.
Rocks 146 (64.2 overs; Muzarabani 24*, Chatara 3/50) & 207 (63.1 overs; Kaia 69, Mushangwe 3/65), Mountaineers 467/7 decl (120.5 overs; Maruma 149, Mustard 105, Masvaure 2/44). Mountaineers win by an innings and 114 runs.
[Match report via ZC]

Mountaineers finally got a mark in the win column after their very poor start to the domestic season, with a 3-wicket win over Midwest Rhinos in Kwekwe. Early on, it had looked Rhinos' game - batting first after being put into bat, they posted 309, led by captain Gary Ballance (100) and Roland Benade (98) - although the small detail that the rest of the team failed to do much was perhaps a warning sign of what was to come. Shingi Masakadza (5/47) and Tendai Chatara (3/68) did the damage with the ball, with Masakadza adding impressive economy to the mix, conceding only 47 runs from the 25 overs he bowled. In reply, Mountaineers appeared to be in all sorts of trouble early on, collapsing initially to 6/77 before some fight was found, then falling further to 132/9 when wickets 7-9 fell for 21 runs. The 10th-wicket pairing of Kevin Kasuza and Tapiwa Mufudza managed to add another 92 runs, frustrating Rhinos and seeing Mountaineers to a half-decent 224 before Mufudza was finally removed. Kasuza, who had been 3rd man in, ended on an unbeaten 132 and can take a lot of credit for Mountaineers' eventual win.

If their first knock was dominated by two notable knock and not much else, Rhinos' second knock simply featured not much. The usually-reliable Ballance was out for a 15-ball duck, and while Riki Wessels (40) and Simon Mugava (30) tried to bring some respectability to their innings there again wasn't much support from elsewhere in the lineup as Rhinos were knocked over for just 143, leaving Mountaineers with a target of 229 to win, with Tendai Chatara again in the wickets with 5/56. For Mountaineers, it was once again a one-man show, with Ned Eckersley stepping up to the plate this time to lead the innings - after coming to the crease with Mountaineers on 2/33, he marshalled the side through most of the remainder of the chase, scoring 85 before departing with the score on 209, his only real support coming from Timycen Maruma (41). But he'd done his part, and Shingi Masakadza and Donald Tiripano completed the innings to see Mountaineers home. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rhinos 309 (103.1 overs; Ballance 100, Masakadza 5/47) & 143 (67.1 overs; Wessels 40, Chatara 5/56), Mountaineers 224 (69.5 overs; Kasuza 132*, Rainsford 3/31) & 230/7 (74.3 overs; Eckersley 85, Rainsford 2/34). Mountaineers win by 3 wickets.

Matabeleland Tuskers were all over Mashonaland Eagles in their Logan Cup 4th round match in Harare, which ended this morning. Batting first after winning the toss, Paul Horton led the side from the front, scoring a patient 104 as Tuskers posted 418. Craig Ervine (60) and Keith Dabengwa (59) also made good contributions along the way, while Innocent Chinyoka, Tatenda Manatsa and Nathan Waller each took three apiece for Eagles. A good knock by Tuskers, but no indication at that point of the carnage to follow.

And "carnage" is probably the best word for it as, when Eagles came to reply, the combined efforts of Glenn Querl (6/20) and Bradley Staddon (4/13) ripped through Eagles' lineup with no resistance: only Sikandar Raza (19) and Stuart Matsikenyeri (17) reached double figures, while Eagles' bottom six all departed without scoring, as their side slumped to a humiliating 52 all out, still 366 behind Tuskers' first-innings total. Tuskers naturally wasted no time in enforcing the follow-on, but while this time there was some fight in Eagles, in the form of an early partnership between Raza (28) and Ryan Bishop (22), and some mid-innings fight from Peter Moor (29) and Nathan Waller (23), for the rest of the side it was the same old story. Resuming on 59/2 at the beginning of day three, Eagles then lost 4 wickets without adding to that score before Moor and Waller managed some damage-control; but saving the game was far beyond their abilities and once the departed, 4 balls apart with the score on 112, the end wasn't far away. Eagles were bowled out second time around for 138, giving Tuskers a huge win - the second time they've beaten Eagles by an innings margin - and allowing their Bulawayo rivals to leap-frog them to top spot in the tournament table. Full scorecard below the cut.
Tuskers 418 (109.1 overs; Horton 104, Chinyoka 3/48), Eagles 52 (26.3 overs; Sikandar Raza 19, Querl 6/20) & 139 (50.5 overs; Moor 29, Dabengwa 3/7). Matabeleland Tuskers win by an innings and 228 runs.

Early in the game, Mashonaland Eagles seemed certain to win this one, but Midwet Rhinos showed plenty of fight as they secured a draw on a game that went down to the final ball and could have gone either way. Rhinos posted 321 in their first innings after being put in to bat, lead by Gary Ballance's 83 and Solomon Mire's 96 - a decent score, but kept in check by an impressive bowling performance from relative newcomer Tatenda Gumunyu-Manatsa, who took 5/89. In reply, Stuart Matsikenyeri's 144, added to strong contributions from Sikandar Raza (68) and Peter Moor (65) saw Eagles reach 463, a lead of 142.

Gary Ballance again fired strongly for Rhinos in the second innings, scoring 128 (and increasing the clamour for him to make himself available for the national side), while Riki Wessels pitched in with 73 as Rhinos posted 299, leaving Eagles with a target of 158 to win on the final afternoon. Rather than play for the draw, Eagles went for the win, but very nearly came unstuck as Rhinos' bowlers tore their way through the Eagles lineup, Gumunyu-Manatsa again leading the charge with 4/46, and Eagles found themselves facing the final ball of the day requiring 4 to win with just 1 wicket left. There were no winning runs for Eagles, no last-gasp wicket for Rhinos, as the game ended in a draw, but it really couldn't have been any closer, and it's unfortunate for Rhinos that the rules of this year's competition saw them leave with no point for their fighting effort. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rhinos 321 (96.4 overs; Mire 96, Gumunyu-Manatsa 5/89) & 299 (100.2 overs; Ballance 128, Gumunya-Manatsa 4/46), Eagles 463 (126.5 overs; Matsikenyeri 144, Chinouya 4/75) & 154/9 (27 overs; Chakabva 54, Rainsford 3/39). Match drawn.