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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.

Eagles suffered the intervention of rain in their run-chase against Rhinos in the other Pro50 match of the weekend, but it came too late to save Rhinos, with Eagles just managing to complete the 20 overs required to ensure a result. Rhinos had posted 189 earlier, with their top order suffering an uncharacteristic collapse before Roland Benade (67), Nyasha Mayavo (38) and Simon Mugava (31) dug in in the lower order to bring some respectability to the score. Trevor Garwe and Nathan Waller did the damage for Eagles, taking 3 wickets apiece. Eagles openers Cephas Zhuwao (58) and Simbarashe Gupo (30) led Eagles reply, with both falling shortly before the rain intervened - but with the Duckworth-Lewis calculations setting Eagles a target of 61, they were well ahead and easily took the points. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rhinos 189/9 (50/50 overs; Benade 67, Garwe 3/24) ,Eagles 102/2 (20/20 overs; Zhuwao 58, Muzhange 1/34). Mashonaland Eagles win by 42 runs (D/L method).

Tuskers eased to an 8-wicket win over the Southern Rocks in the latest round of Pro50 matches, although it wasn't enough to lift them off the bottom of the tournament table. Put into bat, Rocks scored 123 before being bowled out in the 40th over - a performance more akin to the woeful form they've had in the Logan Cup this season, and far short of a competitive total. Tendai Chisoro top-scored with 25, while the wickets were shared around the Tuskers bowlers, with Gavin Ewing's 3/24 being the best of the bunch. Tuskers lost two wickets of their own while chasing down the target, but the result was never really in doubt, with Tuskers securing the points in the 31st over. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rocks 123 (39.2 overs; Chisoro 25, Ewing 3/24), Tuskers 127/2 (30.4 overs; Ewing 49*, Masvaure 1/6). Matabeleland Tuskers win by 8 wickets.

Another match, another loss for Southern Rocks, this time a 7-wicket Pro50 loss to Rhinos. Put into bat, Rocks scored 211, with Richmond Mutambami's 82 forming the backbone of the innings. Robertson Chinyengetere added 30and that was about it as far as notable knocks went. Richard Muzhange and Simon Mugave took three apiece for Rhinos, whose chase of the target was never in doubt - the top three all scoring 50+, including 58 from in-the-doghouse Vusi Sibanda, and 77* from Gary Ballance. Rhinos reached the target in the 43rd over, with just 3 wickets lost. Full scorecard below the cut.
Rocks 211 (48.3 overs; Mutumbami 82, Muzhange 3/30), Rhinos 212/3 (42.2 overs; Ballance 77*, Matanga 2/43). Midwest Rhinos win by 7 wickets.

After going all to pieces in their Logan Cup encounter during the week, Mountaineers didn't manage much better in the Pro50 rematch on Saturday. Mountaineers won the toss and put Eagles in to bat, managing to restrict them to 218 (after having them at 11/4 in the 4th over); Sikandar Raza and Elton Chigumbura top-scored, both with 58, while Tendai Chatara demolished the Eagles top order on the way to taking 5/38. That should have given Mountaineers a decent chance, but a collapse from 56/1 to 58/4 in the 13th & 14th overs killed their momentum. From there, Eagles made steady progress at chipping away at the remaining batsmen, and when rain intervened at the end of the 33rd over, Mountaineers were already sliding to defeat on 133/8. That proved to be the end of play, and when the Duckworth-Lewis calculations were done, Mountaineers were 59 runs short of the revised target of 193. Full scorecard below the cut.
Eagles 218 (49.3/50 overs; Sikandar Raza 58, Chigumbura 58, Chatara 5/38), Mountaineers (33/33 overs; Pettini 33, Jarvis 3/49). Mashonaland Eagles win by 59 runs (D/L method).

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.

They may be in-form in the other forms of the game, but Tuskers' poor run in the Pro50 continued at the weekend with a huge loss to the resurgent Mountaineers. Put into bat after Mountaineers won the toss, Tuskers posted 199 before being bowled out in the 46th over; Terry Duffin and Charles Coventry top-scored, both with 34, but Tendai Chatara's 5/39 with the ball proved key in restricting Tuskers.

Come Mountaineers' innings, Tuskers struck early to remove openers Phil Mustard and Jethro Mawudzi at the end of the 3rd over (on to run-out, the other caught by Coventry off the bowling of Querl), but those were the final wickets to fall: from there, Hamilton Masakadza (64*) and Kevin Kasuza (110* off 91 balls) blitzed their way to an easy Mountaineers win, reaching the target in the 32nd over. Tuskers remain rooted to the bottom of the table, while Mountaineers are now level on 10 points with Southern Rocks. Full scorecard below the cut.
Tuskers 197 (45.1 overs; Duffin 34, Coventry 34, Chatara 5/39), Mountaineers 199/2 (31.3 overs; Kasuza 110*, H Masakadza 64*, Querl 1/52). Mountaineers win by 8 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.