adminBulawayo Athletic Club never recovered from the brilliant bowling of Tinashe Muchawaya as they were easily beaten by Westside by five wickets in a National Premier League (NPL) fixture at Masvingo Sports Club on Wednesday.
BAC, batting first, lost three batters without scoring in Muchawaya’s first two overs with three runs on the board, and five were out for 33 by the end of his fourth over.
Tanaka Mtomba, the captain, fought back with an excellent 66 by steady batting, his innings taking 120 balls, and this enabled his team to reach 181 for nine off 45 overs.
Muchawaya finished with the remarkable figures of six wickets for 35 in his nine overs.
Westside did not begin their chase well, losing their first four wickets for 45 runs, three of them falling to Taboka Manyalo.
However, Definate Mawadzi stood firm with 64 not out off 58 balls, and with some good hitting from Prosper Mugeri, 43 not out off 30 balls in a partnership of 70, victory was achieved with almost 19 overs in hand.
At Old Hararians Sports Club, a superb innings of 91 from Panashe Taruvinga powered Gladiators to a five-wicket victory over Strikers with more than 10 overs to spare in their NPL meeting
The bowling of Malcom Chikuhwa and Milton Shumba, who took two wickets each, restrained the Strikers innings as they batted first, and they had six wickets down for 127 in the 31st over.
Then Tawanda Damiso, with 51 not out off 76 balls, and Takunda Manyama, with 40 not out off 43 balls, made a recovery that enabled Strikers to finish with quite a good total of 217 for six wickets after 45 overs.
Taruvinga opened the innings for Gladiators and batted right through, his 91 not out coming off 91 balls.
His main support came from Wessly Madhevere, who scored 49 off 44 balls to take the score to 97 before the second wicket fell.
Useful innings followed in the middle order, while Taruvinga stood firm, and had he had an equal share of the bowling might well have scored a century.
At Kwekwe Sports Club, Queens Sports Club put up a good fight, but Rainbow’s Ronak Patel scored the century that gave his team the advantage which they managed to hold on to win by 23 runs in their NPL match.
Patel dominated Rainbow’s opening partnership of 116 in 24 overs, aided by Muhammad Khan, who contributed a steady 44 off 79 balls.
Kuda Munyede scored 27, but Patel remained until he was the third man out at 193 in the 36th over, having reached exactly 100 off 104 balls, with two sixes and 12 fours. The later batters hit well to finish with a score of 241 when the innings closed after 42 overs.
BRIEF SCORES:
Bulawayo Athletic Club: 181-9 in 45 overs (Tanaka Mtomba 66, James Hlongwani 29, Bryan Tsongora 18; Tinashe Muchawaya 6/35, Prosper Mugeri 1/29, Vincent Masekesa 1/33)
Westside: 183-5 in 26.1 overs (Definate Mawadzi 64*, Prosper Mugeri 43*, Tinashe Chiorah 28; Taboka Manyalo 3/49, Peter Nyandoro 1/36, Donald Tapfuma 1/40)
Result: Westside won by five wickets
Strikers: 217-6 in 45 overs (Tawanda Damiso 51*, Takunda Manyama 40*, Panashe Gwatiringa 29; Malcom Chikuhwa 2/32, Milton Shumba 2/45, Ashley Mufandauya 1/21)
Gladiators: 221-5 in 34.4 overs (Panashe Taruvinga 91*, Wessly Madhevere 49, Milton Shumba 24; Thelson Madzi-wanza 2/36, Arineshto Vezha 1/15, John Masara 1/38)
Result: Gladiators won by five wickets
Rainbow: 241-6 in 42 overs (Ronak Patel 100, Muhammad Khan 44, Kuda Munyede 27; Tanatswa Bechani 3/34, Petros Sithole 2/56, Vusi Kasipani 1/31)
Queens Sports Club: 218 all out in 41.3 overs (Munashe Chimusoro 67, Ian Fuzane 46, Petros Sithole 27; Daniel Jakiel 4/44, Victor Nyauchi 3/40, Leon Zhakata 1/16)
Result: Rainbow won by 23 runs —ZimCricket.
Online Reporter