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The second match of the day was also the final match of the group stage, pitting Desert Vipers - already out of the running - against Midwest Rhinos who, depending on whether you believed CricInfo's tournament table or SuperSport's, may still have been in with a shout. Vipers were at the crease first, as posted a decent 141/7 from their 20 overs - a score higher than it seemed they would get, after the side's top order failed to fire. It was the eventual arrival of #7 Chrisit Viljoen that finally put some urgency into the innings - he added 41 off 21 balls before losing his wicket on the final ball of the innings. Taurai Muzarabani took 2/24 to lead the bowling for Rhinos. In reply, early efforts by Rikki Wessels (32 off 15 balls) and Darren Stevens (33 off 25) saw Rhinos appear to be on course for victory, but the lower order unfortunately went to pieces under the Vipers' attack and the side limped its way to a disappointing 132/9 at the close. Louis Klazinga took 3/41, in the process almost certainly ensuring his side a place in the 3rd/4th place playoff. Full scorecard below the cut.
Vipers 141/7 (20 overs; Viljoen 41, Muzarabani 2/24), Rhinos 132/9 (20 overs; Stevens 33, Klazinga 3/41). Vipers win by 9 runs.

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.

Day Five of the Stanbic T20, and the first match of the day was a close-fought bottom-of-the-table clash between Midwest Rhinos and Matabeleland Tuskers, with both sides needing to give their campaigns a boost if they were to keep their hopes of reaching the final alive. Tuskers won the toss and opted to field, and soon drew early blood as Rhinos lost Rikki Wessels (8) and Mluleki Nkala (0) early in the innings. Vusi Sibanda once again proved the rock around which Rhinos could base their efforts, though, adding 61, while in the lower order Malcolm Waller (33) and Ollie Rayner (24) both made useful contributions that lifted their side to 152/8 from their 20 overs - a higher total than had looked likely earlier in the morning. Chris Mpofu made the best inroads with the ball, taking 4/17 for Tuskers. The loss of Sean Williams in their first over saw Tuskers off to a wobbly start in their chase, but Gavin Ewing's 40 off 28 balls got things moving in the right direction and, despite the loss of several cheap wickets in the middle order, the side were there or thereabouts throughout their chase. It was the lower order trio of Andy Blignaut (26), Tawanda Mupariwa (19) and Keegan Meth (30*) who finished the chase off, with Meth scoring the winning runs with Tuskers needing 3 runs off the final ball to secure the win. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rhinos 152/8 (20 overs; Sibanda 61, Mpofu 4/17), Tuskers 154/8 (20 overs; Ewing 40, Cremer 2/14). Tuskers win by 2 wickets.

Midwest Rhinos got off the mark with a win against Mashonaland Eagles in the first of today's Stanbic T20 matches. Eagles were put into bat after Rhinos won the toss, and with the notable exception of captain Elton Chigumbura, who top-scored for his side with an impressive 53, none of the Eagles batsmen were ever able to really get going. Darren Stevens did most of the damage with the ball, taking 4/26 from his 4 overs. Rhinos' reply was perfectly paced, too, helped along by an Eagles attack that failed to take any wickets (the two men out were both runouts). Brendan Taylor impressed win an unabated 45, Vusi Sibanda's superb season continued as he chipped in with 41, while Rikki Wessels added 37 as Rhinos reached their target with a ball to spare. Full scorecard below the cut.
Eagles 140 (20 overs; Chigumbura 53, Stevens 4/26), Rhinos 146/2 (19.5 overs; Taylor 45*, Price 0/15). Rhinos win by 8 wickets.

Mountaineers got their quest for the domestic T20 title off to a flying start with an 8-wicket win over MidWest Rhinos in the opening match of the Stanbic Bank Zim Twenty20 this morning. Rhinos were put into bat after Mountaineers won the toss, and amassed 125/6 from their 20 overs, largely thanks to the efforts of Malcolm Waller (55) and Graeme Cremer (35), but that wasn't enough to put them out of the Mountaineers' reach - led by Hamilton Masakadza (74), the Mutare side chased down their target with over 4 overs to spare. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rhinos 125/6 (20 overs; Waller 55, Ncube 2/15), Mountaineers 126/2 (15.4 overs; H Masakadza 76, Stevens 1/21). Mountaineers win by 8 wickets.

Midwest Rhinos player Riki Wessels (son of Kepler Wessels, one of the applicants for the position of national coach) has indicated that he plans to return to the side next season. Wessels has had a fairly successful time with Rhinos so far, 313 runs at an average of 34.17 in the six Logan Cup matches he's played so far, and in an interview with the Zimbabwe Standard had good words to say about the standard of play in the competition this year:

"I am busy trying to sort out my papers so that I can return to play next season. I really enjoyed my time here with the Rhinos and cricket has a bright future in Zimbabwe. It is not long before Test cricket returns to the country because I have seen they have got quite a few exciting young cricketers like Vusi Sibanda, Brendan Taylor and Graeme Cremer."

"If you see these guys performing like this at their age it means they will get better as they grow older. [The franchise system] has helped a lot because the cricketers are now playing a lot of competitive cricket regularly and a lot of former players have also returned. The future is good and what is needed is a bit more exposure for the cricketers by playing against quality sides. The first year of running a franchise is also the difficult part. But this year it has gone rather well and the challenge now is to improve on the next season."

Wessels is expected to return to Northamptonshire during the upcoming English season.
Zimbabwe Standard - Wessels Set for Comeback

Midwest Rhinos battled out a draw with Sean Ervine.. er, Southern Rocks to keep their chances of a place in the Logan Cup final alive - just. It was a match that was dominated by a few key players, most notably returning 'rebel' Sean Ervine, who scored a career-best 208 & 160 with the bat, going on to take 3 wickets in the match. Rhinos won the toss and opted to bat, and put on a disappointing 267 before being bowled out, with Malcolm Waller's 124 being the one performance to impress. Blessing Mahwire took 3/26 for Rocks. In reply, Rocks got off to a very shaky start, being 4/13 at one point, before the Ervine brothers joined forces at the crease to add 178 for the fifth wicket. Craig was eventually out for 81, while Sean went on to 208. With the best score beyond the brothers being a paltry 26 from Tendai Chisoro, it really was Ervines versus Rhinos.

Facing an unexpected first-innings deficit, it was Rhinos' turn to step up to the plate, and with a little help from Brendan Taylor, who one-upped Sean Ervine by scoring 217, they did. Innocent Chikunya chipped in with 75, with Graeme Cremer reaching 53 not-out before the side declared on 443/5. That left Rocks chasing 337 to win, a target that the side threw themselves into in much the style of a Twenty20 match. While the third-wicket partnership of Steve Marillier and Sean Ervine was at the crease, there even seemed to be a chance for an unlikely Rocks win, but Marillier's removal with the score on 152 was the beginning of a procession of wickets, and also saw the run-chase drop well below the required rate. Ervine finally went for 160, and the match drew to a close 2 overs later with Rocks still 59 runs short.

That leaves Mountaineers in the driving seat for the remaining spot on the final, with Rhinos needing to beat them next week, and out-score them on bonus points, to claim the place. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rhinos 267 (77.5 overs; Waller 124, Mahwire 3/26) & 443/5 decl (94 overs; Taylor 217, S Ervine 2/63), Rocks 374 (105 overs; S Ervine 208, Cremer 5/125) & 278/8 (82 overs; S Ervine 160, Muzhange 3/58). Match Drawn.

Eagles' draw with Rhinos was enough for them to secure their position at the top of the Logan Cup table, and saw Rhinos fall further off the pace in the race for a place in the final with only two matches to play. With Eagles batting first after Rhinos chose to field, Greg Lamb led the way with 171, with support from Elton Chigumbura (53) and Regis Chakabva (70) as the side posted 376, with Ed Rainsford and Graeme Cremer claiming 4 wickets apiece. With Rhinos' best score in reply being Rikki Wessels' 66, though, the home side were left with a 90-run deficit after declaring on 286/9.

Come their second innings, though, Eagles looked far more vulnerable as Cremer ripped through the side, taking a career-best 8/92. It was only the tail-end efforts of Trevor Garwe (53*) that saved Eagles' blushes - and left Rhinos short of time to mount their comeback. Needing 295 from their second innings to win, they were able to reach only 168/5 before the close on the final day, with Mluleki Nkala (57) and Friday Kasteni (44) posting a 109-run opening partnership while Ray Price took 2/35 for Eagles. Full scorecard below the cut.
Eagles 376 (101.4 overs; Lamb 171, Rainsford 4/57) & 204 (78.4 overs; Garwe 53*, Cremer 8/92), Rhinos 286/9 decl (84.4 overs; Wessels 66, Chigumbura 4/66) & 168/5 (66 overs; Nkala 57, Rice 2/35). Match drawn.

The Tuskers senior team may be having a shocker of a season, but with a healthy surplus of top-name players on their roster, the franchise's 'B' side made short work of Rhinos 'B' at Bulawayo Athletic Club last week, winnings by an innings and 66 runs. Tuskers won the toss and opted to field, and Rhinos - anchored by George Banda (72) and Duncan Robertson (64) - managed to post 231 in their first innings. Godwin Mamhiyo took 3/33 to lead the bowling figures for Tuskers.

In their first innings, though, Tuskers were clearly in command. Bolstered by former national players Terrence Duffin (91) and Mark Vermeulen (81), the side posted 393/9 before declaring, with three other players passing the 50 mark along the way. That left Rhinos chasing 162 just to make Rhinos bat again - but a woeful second innings that saw them add just 96 to their total saw victory handed to the home side, Godwin Mamhiyo again leading the bowling with 5/34. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rhinos 231 (72 overs; Banda 72, Mamhiyo 3/33) & 96 (32 overs; Banda 13, Mamhiyo 5/34), Tuskers 393/9 decl (74.5 overs; Duffin 91, Banda 3/23). Tuskers 'B' win by an innings and 66 runs.

Tuskers got off to a flier in their match against Rhinos, thanks to an impressive 158 by Keith Dabengwa, but failed to make the most of their early advantage, eventually falling to a convincing 8-wicket loss against Rhinos. Batting first after winning the toss, Tuskers suffered an early blow when #2 batsman Gavin Ewing was forced to retire hurt early in the match (he was able to return later), but with Dabengwa on form the side were looking good on 293/5 when he finally struck out, bowled by Ed Rainsford (2/43). Keegan Meth's 66 towards the end of the innings also helped propel the side to 337, when Tuskers declared, clearly feeling they had enough on the board to mount a good challenge. Rhinos were quick to dispel any such notion, though - while the home side suffered a lower-order collapse, the last six wickets falling for 73 runs, the good work had already been done by the top, with Vusi Sibanda (131) continuing his amazing series with another ton, and Brendan Taylor (104) also passing the century mark - the pair added 160 for the 4th wicket, and that was enough to give Rhinos the upper hand.

They didn't waste the opportunity, either, going on to bowl out Tuskers for 240 in their second innings and leaving themselves a target of 170 to win when their turn to bat came around again. Once again it was Sibanda that led the charge, adding an unbeaten 77, with Mluleki Nkala contributing 54 as Rhinos reached their target for the loss of just 2 wickets. Full scorecard below the cut.
Tuskers 337/8 decl (101.4 overs; Dabengwa 158, Cremer 4/133) & 240 (88.5 overs; Ebrahim 77, Muzarabani 3/29), Rhinos 408 (129.2 overs; Sibanda 131, Taylor 104, Meth 5/26) & 172/2 (32 overs; Nkala 54, Nyumbu 1/23). Rhinos win by 8 wickets.