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Lawrence Moyo Head Zimpapers Sports
OPENING batsman Cephas Zhuwao will be under the spotlight as Takashinga Patriots 2 face Gladiators in a “semi-final” of the National Premier League T20 Blast cricket tournament at Harare Sports Club this afternoon.
Zhuwao comes up against the Gladiators two days after smashing 132 off 48 balls against them at Takashinga Cricket Club in what was technically a dead rubber as both teams were guaranteed the top two positions under the tournament’s playing conditions.
Now they meet in a qualifier where stakes are much higher and the pitch completely different.
The qualifier match to decide the first team to book a place in the tournament final starts at 2pm while the eliminator between Takashinga Patriots 1 and Uprising will be played under floodlights from 6pm.
Whoever wins between Takashinga 2 and Gladiators will reach Saturday’s final at Harare Sports Club while the loser will meet the winner between Takashinga 1 and Uprising in what is a second semi-final tomorrow.
Takashinga 2 finished top of the table with 12 points from seven matches after six wins and one defeat while Gladiators and Takashinga 1 were tied on 10 points.
Gladiators’ 101-run defeat to Takashinga 2 on Tuesday would have cost them a place in the Qualifier but the tournament’s playing conditions meant that Takashinga 1 would not finish second on the final standings.
While Net Run Rate is generally used to determine positions in league formats, the NPL Blast put number of wins as first priority followed by head-to-head and then net run rate.
Takashinga 1 finished with a better net run rate but lost out on head-to-head as they been beaten by 37 runs in the opening fixture of the tournament.
However, there are still two remaining scenarios for an all-Takashinga clash. The first one is a Takashinga 2 win over Gladiators and Takashinga 1 winning against Uprising and Gladiators today and tomorrow to set up Saturday’s final.
The second scenario is Takashinga 2 losing against Gladiators while Takashinga 1 beat Uprising today and they set up a Qualifier 2 clash tomorrow.
In today’s match, Zhuwao will be under pressure to prove that Tuesday’s exploits were not once-off as his tournament had been largely disappointing with four previous knocks of under 20 runs.
His first match was against Takashinga 1 on September 27 and he scored 14 from 13 balls, followed by 16 in 10 balls against Rainbow two days later, 15 (6) against Westside on September 30 and then 12 in five balls against Amakhosi on October 1.
Another low score today and his 132 will be deemed a fluke.
Uprising’s Nicholas Welch has been the tournament’s most consistent batsmen with 358 runs in seven innings at an average of 59.67.
Welch’s lowest score was 34 in 21 balls against the Gladiators while scoring three half centuries including an unbeaten 75 off 50 balls against Mutare Sports Club.
He will be the man to watch in today’s eliminator.
Milton Shumba of the Gladiators is the tournament’s second highest scorer with 285 runs in seven innings at an average of 47.50 while Antum Naqvi is third with 216 runs in five innings at an average of 54.
Mutare Sports Club’s Tendai Chatara finished the league stage with 15 wickets in seven innings followed by Trevor Gwandu of Takashinga 2 with 12 wickets in five innings as was Fortune Mhlanga of Westside.
There were 11 wickets in seven innings for Tapiwa Mufudza of Takashinga 1 while Brian Bennet (Uprising) and Naqvi took 10 in five innings.
Owen Muzondo (Gladiators) and Ernest Masuku (Amakhosi) also took 10 wickets but from seven innings each.
Online Reporter