daniel chigunwe
Brandon Moyo
THE Northerns have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match women’s One Day regional series against the Southerns after registering a four wickets victory in the second match at Old Hararians yesterday.
Going into yesterday’s game leading 1-0, the Northerns managed to seal the series with a game to spare.
In yesterday’s encounter, the Northerns won the toss and elected to field first and they went on to restrict the Southerns to 246/9 in 50 overs before they went on to chase down the target in 40,5 overs, finishing on 247/6.
Teenage sensation, Kelis Ndhlovu starred with the ball for the Northerns, finishing with figures of 3/34 in her nine over spell while left arm seamer, Nomvelo Sibanda took two scalps in her 10 over spell, giving away 52 runs. Nomatter Mutasa Ziyamba also took two wickets for 53 runs in 10 overs as well. Previous Marange took the only other wicket that fell.
For Southerns with the bat this time around, it was Nyasha Gwanzura who top scored with 69 runs from 58 balls while Ashley Ndiraya fell four runs off their leading run scorer with 65 runs after facing 91 deliveries. Their hero with the bat on the first match, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano fell nine runs short of her half century with 41 runs from 59 balls.
In their chase, Northerns got off to bad start with the bat, losing an early wicket of captain, Mary Anne-Musonda with just eight runs on the board in the second over. Musonda fell for a golden duck.
Ndhlovu went on to put up yet another brilliant spell with the bat to make it a memorable all round performance to help guide her side to victory. The young Ndhlovu top scored for Northerns with a well played 87 runs off as many deliveries. She was the only one who scored a half century as their second leading run scorer was Ziyamba with 28 runs from 44 balls while Precious Marange chipped in with 25. runs from 31 deliveries.
Francesca Chipare starred with the ball for the Southerns, finishing with the match’s best bowling figures of 4/42 in 9,5 overs. Kudzai Chigora and Christina Mutasa took the other two wickets that fell. The duo conceded 47 and 22 runs in six and two overs respectively.
The third and final one day match of the series will be played tomorrow at the same venue. For the Northerns, they will be hoping for a whitewash while the Southerns will be looking at saving face and getting something from the series. — @brandon_malvin.
Online Reporter