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A BRILLIANT innings of 96 not out by the former Zimbabwe batter, PJ Moor led Mega Market Mountaineers to an outstanding seven-wicket victory over Southern Rocks in their Pro50 Championship match at Masvingo Sports Club last Sunday.
The win was their first one for the tournament and the Mountain Goats need a similar performance when they face Rhinos today (Friday) if they entertain hope of staying in contention for this seasons’ Pro50 contest.
Rocks, put in to bat, always appeared to be on course for a good score, after they were given a rousing start by Cephas Zhuwao with 36 off 42 balls.
Their star batter, however, was Roy Kaia, who played a fine innings of 97 off 118 balls, with two sixes and eight fours.
He shared partnerships of 87 for the third wicket with Richmond Mutumbami (38) and 77 for the fourth with Johnathan Campbell, the latter reaching 53 not out off 40 balls.
Tendai Chisoro helped take the score past 300 with an aggressive 22 off only 12 balls, and the innings closed at 315 for five wickets, which most expected would be more than enough against the struggling Mountaineers team.
But Mountaineers pulled together in fine style, with each of their top five batters playing a superb part in their eventual victory, which came with almost four overs to spare.Joylord Gumbie and Kevin Kasuza began it with a dashing opening partnership of 117 within 21 overs, before Kasuza was out for 60 off 67 balls.
Gumbie was also out in the sixties, making 68 off 76 balls before he was out at 149 for
This brought in Moor to join the captain, Tony Munyonga, and they put on 57 together before Munyonga went for 42 off 41 balls – 206 for three.
Moor was by now in full flow, and all his new partner Brian Bennett had to do was play a supporting role and pick up runs as they came, which he did well enough with 32 not out of their partnership which eventually realised 112 runs.
Moor, who finished the match by hitting two successive fours, was unfortunate in that the target was reached just one further boundary stroke away from what would have been his first century in a match of any standing in Zimbabwe since 2019.
His unbeaten 96 came off only 65 deliveries and contained five sixes and eight fours.
The only bowler in this high-scoring match to take more than one wicket was Donald Tiripano of Mountaineers, who took two for 58. — Senior Reporter/ZC.
Online Reporter