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Lawrence Moyo
Head Zimpapers Sports
GLADIATORS are now the only unbeaten side in the National Premier League one-day cricket tournament after crushing Queens Sports Club by seven wickets on Sunday to go 10 points clear at the summit of the standings.
Previously unbeaten Uprising suffered a 74-run defeat chasing 313/5 by Takashinga Patriots 1 at the latter’s home ground on Saturday. This ended a run of seven successive wins for Uprising and, in the process, demoted them to third place.
Takashinga Patriots 1 moved into second place after ending Uprising’s winning start and will now be pushing for the ultimate prize.
Queens Sports Club were 141 all out in 30.5 overs with opener and wicketkeeper Dalubuhle Mboyi scoring 68 off 73 balls, which included six fours and a maximum.
The next best contribution came from Chris Mpofu, batting at number five, who made 28 runs off 40 balls while there were eight scores of single digits, including four ducks.
Gladiators bowler Munashe Zata took five wickets for 19 in five overs to land the man-of-the-match award while there were two wickets each for Phrase Mukabeta and Owen Muzondo with Malcolm Chikuhwa claiming the 10th wicket.
In response, Gladiators reached their target for the loss of three wickets after 24.4 overs with captain Ashley Mufandauya unbeaten on 55 from 49 balls while opener and wicketkeeper, Lennox Chando had the second highest contribution of 44 from 34 balls.
With the win, Gladiators moved to a maximum 80 points from eight matches while Queens Sports Club have 20 points from just two wins.
RUN FESTS
The weekend action had three matches where the teams batting first breached 300 runs. The highest aggregate of 586 runs was at Kwekwe Sports Club where Rainbow 1 Cricket Club beat Bulawayo Athletic Club by 36 runs on Saturday.
Rainbow 1 Cricket Club, who lost opener Mathew Campbell for a duck, were bowled out for 311 off the penultimate ball of their innings with a topscore of 62 from 45 balls coming from number two batsman, Tino Chiwara.
Chiwara was the only batsman to score a half century despite the big total — there were five scores in the 20s, a 30 and 36 bowling extras.
Charlton Tshuma took three wickets for 46 while five other bowlers took at least a wicket.
In contrast, BAC had three half centuries on their way to 275/7 in their allotted 45 overs with Brandon James scoring 88 from 68 balls at number six while opener Vitalis Buwu (50 off 54) and captain/wicketkeeper Gift Mavhaire (55 off 57) were the others with milestones.
Calton Takawira took three for 54 off his nine overs and Daniel Jackiel claimed three for 56 off eight overs while Ronak Patel (1-53) took the other wicket.
Timycen Maruma is Takashinga Patriots 1’s leading light and is currently top of the batting rankings with 415 runs from the eight matches so far. Maruma has one century to his record and averages 59.29 runs a match.
On Saturday Marume contributed 34 runs on a day opener Emmanuel Bawa and number three, Innocent Kaia scored centuries as Takashinga Patriots 1 compiled 313/5 in their 45 overs. Bawa hit three sixes and 10 fours for his 103 while man-of-the-match Kaia had 11 fours on his way to 112 off 106 balls with Chamu Chibhabha adding a useful 45 off 27 balls.
Victor Nyauchi was the most successful bowler for Uprising with two wickets for 77 in nine overs.
Just like BAC, Uprising batted their 45 overs in reply and lost seven wickets on their way to a 74-run defeat.
Opener Tafadzwa Mahachi made 115 off 129, hitting 13 fours and two sixes, but ran out of meaningful contributions with the next best score being 41 from 39 balls by Aisha Chibanda at number six.
Takashinga 1 used six bowlers and, with the exception of captain Kaia, everyone claimed at least a wicket.
The third match with a score of over 300 runs was at Masvingo Sports Club where Westside Cricket Club plundered 367/7 off their 45 overs for the week’s highest innings total. However, the match’s aggregate score was just 457 as Golden Bulls were bundled out for 90 in 23 overs.
Westside made 367 runs without a centurion as the topscore came from opener and wicketkeeper, Tinashe Chiorah who made 92 off 62 balls while number seven Prosper Mugeri scored 87 off 47, hitting seven sixes and seven fours.
The Golden Bulls’ bowling was wild as they gave away 40 extras, including 28 wides.
In reply, Golden Bulls’ highest contribution came from Jimmy Nyangoni who was unbeaten on 24 followed by 20 from Dereck Sadoki while the rest were single figures, including four ducks.
Fortune Mhlanga was the chief destroyer as he claimed seven wickets for 16 runs in eight overs, two of them maiden.
TODAY’s FIXTURES
Golden Bulls v Kadoma (Kwekwe Sports Club)
Amakhosi 1 v Queens 1 (Queens Sports Club)
Mutare v Takashinga 1 (Mutare Sports Club)
Mbizo v Rainbow 1 (Takashinga)
Gladiators v Uprising (OH Sports Club)
LATEST STANDINGS
P W L T NR Pts NRR
Gladiators 8 8 0 0 0 80 2.041
Takashinga 1 8 7 1 0 70 3.530
Uprising 8 7 1 0 0 70 1.319
Takashinga 2 8 6 1 0 66 0.975
Mutare Sports Club 8 6 2 0 0 60 1.324
Westside 8 5 2 0 1 56 1.810
Rainbow 1 8 4 4 0 40 0.100
Amakhosi 1 8 4 4 0 40 0.090
Queens 1 8 2 6 0 20 -0.181
Kadoma 8 2 6 0 0 20 -0.778
Scorpions 8 2 6 0 0 20 -1.011
BAC 8 2 6 0 0 20 -1.534
Mbizo 8 0 8 0 0 0 -3.410
Golden Bulls 8 0 8 0 0 0 -3.530
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