Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo, [email protected]
THE second development tournament that was hosted by the Bulawayo Metropolitan Cricket Association (BMCA) and concluded on Tuesday has been hailed as a success.
The two day grassroots fiesta was for Under-14s and 16s and was played in two different venues in the city. The Under-14s played at Old Mutual Academy (OMA) formerly Heath Streak while the Under-16 played at Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC).
A total of four teams took part in the fiesta across both age groups and they were BAC High Performance, Elton Chigumbura Academy, OMA and Emakhandeni High Performance. In the Under-14s event, Emakhandeni finished third after edging OMA by 23 runs in the playoff match.
Emakhandeni finished on 89/4 in their 10 overs before going on to limit their opponents to 66/7. BAC went on to win the final after a 59 runs victory over Elton Chigumbura Academy.
Batting first, BAC posted 119/3 in their innings and went on to limit their opponents to 60/7. Enoch Chindedza top scored for the eventual winners with 45 run off 28 balls while Nathan Mtuke remained undefeated on 24 runs from 11 deliveries. Bruce Guyo and Thabiso Sigauke took two and one wicket respectively for Elton Chigumbura Academy.
In their defence, it took a good bowling display from BAC to win the match. Tinofara Bhiri, Mtuke and Mthandeni Moyo took two scalps each while Omhle Dube took one to help limit their opponents. Isaac Muvonde top scored for the Academy side with 37 runs off 28 balls.
At BAC for the Under-16 matches, Elton Chigumbura Academy finished in third place after a thumping eight wickets win over OMA. The Elton Chigumbura side restricted their opponents to 16/7 before going on to chase down the target in 3.2 overs, finishing on 17/2.
In the final, BAC won a thriller by just two runs against Emakhandeni. After being sent in to bat first, BAC finished on 76/5 before going on to leave their opponents on 74/7. Lwandle Moyo top scored for BAC with 20 runs off as many balls while Pilate Ndlovu fell for 15 runs from 11 deliveries. Barrack Hakufiwi scored 12 runs after facing 10 balls. Fortune Ncube and Fritz Chisoro took one wicket each for Emakhandeni while the other three that fell were run outs.
In Emakhandeni’s chase, Presley Nkomo top scored with 28 runs from 18 balls while Ncube fell for 17 runs from 11 deliveries. The other batter to cross double figures was Tanyaradzwa Takura who made 15 runs from 17 balls as they fell short of winning the match.
Ndlovu and Gary Nyumbu took two scalps each for BAC while Tawonga Dakwa and Ryan Nkala took one each to give their side the win.
The grassroots event came after the completion of another tournament last week that was held at BAC and featured a team from Kwekwe. More grassroots festivals are expected to take place. -@brandon_malvin
Online Reporter