Harare Hurricanes edge Joburg Buffaloes

HARARE Hurricanes’ brilliant start to the inaugural Zim Cyber City Zim Afro T10 league continued after registering yet another win, edging Joburg Buffaloes by two runs at Harare Sports Club yesterday.

The capital side played the first match of the day and managed to get it off on a high note, collecting maximum points.

After they were sent in to bat first, the Hurricanes finished on 106/6 in their 10 overs and went on to restrict the Buffaloes to 104/7 to get the much needed two points. Robin Uthappa starred with the bat for the Hurricanes, finishing as the top scorer with 31 runs off 20 deliveries while his opening partner Evin Lewis made quick-fire 19 runs from just nine deliveries.

Irfan Pathan’s unbeaten 15 runs off eight balls in the lower order helped the Hurricanes reach a score to bowl at. Noor Ahmad had the best figures with the ball for the Buffaloes, taking 2/20 in his two over spell while Mohammad Hafeez, Blessing Muzarabani, Usman Shinwari and Wellington Masakadza all took one wicket apiece.

In their defence, Nandre Burger delivered a spell for the ages for the Hurricanes, finishing with figures of 3/12 in his two overs while Chris Mpofu also had another brilliant performance with ball in hand, as he claimed two wickets for just 17 runs in his two overs as well. Brandon Mavuta also took two wickets and conceded 26 runs in his spell.

The trio was crucial in helping the Hurricanes emerge victorious. Ravi Bopara’s unbeaten 30 runs off 19 balls was not enough to see the Buffaloes through. Will Smeed’s 21 runs was the second highest score for the Buffaloes as they suffered a close defeat.

In the second match of the day, Cape Town Samp Army edged Durban Qalandars by four wickets in a low scoring encounter. After they were sent in to bowl first, the Samp Army bowlers did a good job to restrict the Qalandars to 91/5 in 10 overs before their batters went on to chase down the target in nine overs, finishing on 95/6.

Karim Janat starred with the ball for Cape Town Samp Army, finishing with figures of 2/17 in his spell while Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Tom Curran and Peter Hatzoglou all took one scalp each as they restricted their opponents to a chaseable score.

With bat in hand for Qalandars, Hazratullah Zazai top scored as he finished on 43 runs off 27 deliveries while George Linde remained unbeaten with 25 runs after facing 13 balls.

In the match’s second innings, Janat was crucial to Cape Town Samp Army’s chase, finishing on 48 runs off 17 deliveries.

Rahmanullah Gubaz chipped in with 13 runs from 14 balls. Daryn Dupacillon and Tendai Chatara took two wickets each for Qlandars while Mohammad Amir, and Tayyab Abbas took one wicket each as they could not restrict the Samp Army batters to less than 92 runs.

The last match of last night pitted Harare Hurricanes and Bulawayo Braves in a highly anticipated Battle of the Cities in which Skandar Raza was expected to lead the City of Kings hopefuls in their quest for glory in this maiden T10 franchise cricket tournament.