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Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Tanzania men’s cricket team concluded their tour of Zimbabwe with a three-wicket triumph over Rhinos in a Twenty20 contest played at Kwekwe Sports Club on Friday.
It was only Tanzania’s second win on the tour out of the six matches they played against Rhinos, with the Kwekwe based franchise having won the other four T20 clashes between the two teams.
Rhinos batted first and posted an uninspiring 104 all out in 16 overs, their highest run scorer being opening batsman Mkhululi Tshuma who made 50 off 28 deliveries while Takudzwanashe Kaitano was second best with 28.
Tanzania did not have it easy in their run chase, which saw them lose seven wickets on their way to reaching their target in 17.3 overs. Jittin Pratap Singh top scored for the East Africans with an unbeaten 51 from 44 balls to steer the Steve Tikolo coached Tanzanians to victory.
With President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday announcing measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which include prohibiting events that involve the gathering of more than 100 people, the remaining matches of Tanzania’s tour were played under strict guidelines behind closed doors.
School children who had been invited to witness the matches did not attend the rest of the fixtures, with the people inside Kwekwe Sports Club limited to less than 100.
Rhinos used the matches against Tanzania to give an opportunity to some of their up and coming players with their experienced stars rested.
Tanzania fly back home on Saturday, with the visitors to travel straight from their hotel in Kwekwe to the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare.
English county teams, Derbyshire and Durham abandoned their tour of Zimbabwe, with the two teams returning home on Monday because of the coronavirus.
While Zimbabwe is yet to record a single case of COVID-19, the two teams were concerned about uncertainty around potential travel interruption caused by the pandemic.
Derbyshire were meant to play six matches against Zimbabwe Select at Queens Sports Club but only fixture, a T20 clash went ahead last Saturday before they decided to cut short their stay in the country.
Chairmen’s XI were meant to be Durham’s opponents in two three-day fixtures at Harare Sports but the English county team only trained in the capital and never took to the field before they flew back to England.
@Mdawini_29
Online Reporter