admin
Ngoni Dapira Sports Correspondent
MUTARE’s franchise cricket side, Mountaineers will tomorrow (Saturday) be back at their favourite hunting ground when they play the second Pro5O Championship match in the second tier.
Mountaineers will be facing the defending champions Mashonaland Eagles.
The Eagles are perched at the top of the log and unbeaten in the second tier after dismissing MidWest Rhinos by 23-runs last Thursday. They have 18-points.
The Mountain goats on the other hand won their second round opener away against Matabeleland Tuskers by 173-runs and received a bonus point to increase their points tally to 13.
In their last clash against Eagles, the Harare side dismissed the Mutare side by five wickets. However, with home advantage this time, the Mutare side will hope to turn tables against the log leaders.
On the other hand in the four-day series Logan Cup it is a close encounter as all the teams currently have recorded wins with one point difference attributed to bonus points.
Tuskers (8) lead the log through first inning lead points attained in the match against Eagles followed by Rhinos (7) and Mountaineers (7) at stalemate while Eagles (6) sit at the bottom.
The Logan Cup which is still in the first round will enter the final round of matches next week.
Mountaineers won the first match against Rhinos, but lost last week’s match against Tuskers. On the contrary, Eagles won against Tuskers, but lost last week’s encounter to Rhinos.
The Logan Cup matches start next Tuesday ending Friday.
On another note, Mountaineers’ Tapiwa Mufudza is basking in glory following his 5 for 25 wicket haul that steered his side’s Pro50 Championship victory.
Mufudza and teammate Cuthbert Musoko are currently in the top-five ranking of players with most wickets in the Pro50 Championship.They are third and fifth, respectively.
Teammates Tymcen Maruma and Hamilton Masakadza are in the top five ranking of players with the most runs in the Pro50 Championship as well.
Maruma tops the rankings with 163-runs in four matches while Masakadza is fourth with 150 runs in three matches.
Zimbabwe Cricket Manicaland area manager, Farai Chari announced that the holiday cricket courses for junior cricketers would start on Monday running in two phases.
“The first phase will be from next week Monday to Friday then the second phase will be from January 4 to 8. This is an opportunity for both beginners and experienced junior cricketers to horn their skills. We strongly urge parents interested in having their children learn the sport to bring them for these courses,” said Chari.
Online Reporter