Durham stun Eagles in night match

EVERYONE expected the visiting Durham County Cricket side to be crowned the new champions of Zimbabwe’s Domestic T20 league but no one would have imagined they would win in the manner that they did on Saturday evening at Harare Sports Club.

Up against the defending champions Eagles in the country’s ceremonial home of cricket and under lights for the first time in the domestic T20 league, Durham County made a laughing stock out of a team that has been touted as the best in Zimbabwe.

No one foresaw a final where an Eagles team with eight national team players would be bowled out for just 16 runs while chasing a mammoth target of 230 in a 20 over game.

Durham were merciless as they embarrassingly defeated the defending champions in the final by a massive 213 runs to be crowned the new champions of the country’s domestic T20 league.

The eventual winners won the toss and elected to bat first and were unstoppable as they scored 229/6 in their 20 overs before going on to mercilessly shoot down Eagles to just 16 runs all out in 8,1 overs.

Their 213-run-winning margin is now the third largest margin of victory in men’s T20s in the world and Eagles’ paltry 16 runs is the third-lowest total in men’s T20s.

There were no excuses for the Eagles on the night as they were outplayed in every sense of the word.

Durham’s victory meant that they finished the league as invincible, winning all their games, proving a class above the Zimbabwean domestic teams.

Batting first, it was Bas De Leed who led from the front with the bat for Durham. De Leed top scored with a brilliantly played 58 runs off 29 balls while opening batter, Oliver Robinson fell just a run short of his half-century on 49 runs from just 20 deliveries.

Haydon Mustard remained undefeated on 46 runs off 22 balls and Ben Raine made 27 runs from 23 balls. Tanaka Chivanga and Marshall Takodza took two scalps apiece for Eagles, conceding 35 and 42 runs respectively both in four overs each.

The other two wicket takers for Eagles were Hamza Sajjad and Owen Muzondo who took one wicket each.

Eagles’ chase in the second innings never took off as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals.

At some point in the game, the runs and the wickets were at par at 5/5. The former champions would go on to find themselves languishing at 11/9.

Eventually, they would fold to 16 all out (with two extras).

Their top run scorer was Tapiwa Mufudza (four runs not out) and the skipper Chamu Chibhabha with four runs off as many deliveries. Five Eagles batters fell for ducks.

Callum Parkinson, Paul Coughlin and Luke Robinson picked up two wickets apiece for Durham while De Leede and Nathan Sowter took one each.

Meanwhile, as Eagles were smashed by Durham, Tuskers ended their dismal campaign with a win, their first of the season.

The Bulawayo-based side beat Southern Rocks by 59 runs. Batting first, Tuskers scored 177/6 in their 20 overs courtesy of a Clive Madande 99 runs not out before going on to bowl out their opponents for 118 runs in 19,2 overs. In the third place playoff match, Rhinos beat Mega Market Mountaineers by seven wickets. —@brandon_malvin