Northerns, Southerns face off in cricket action

AFTER an exhilarating start to Zimbabwe Cricket-Women’s regional one-day matches on Monday, the Southerns and Northerns return to the field today for the second match at Old Hararians Sports Club.

There will be all to play for in today’s game which promises to be an interesting game of cricket as the Northerns will be looking to double their lead while their opponents, the Southerns will be hoping to level the series.

For Northerns, they will be hoping to claim an unassailable 2-0 lead after they recorded a close 22 runs victory in the series opener while a win for the Southerns will see the series go to 1-1, making it open to both teams in the last match.

Both teams boast of star-studded teams with players who have represented Zimbabwe at an international level.

Some of the players to watch out for in today’s game include Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano (Southerns) who scored the only ton on Monday and Tasmeen Granger (Northerns) who had a half century.

With ball in hand, the crucial players will be Loreen Tshuma and Loryn Tshuma who both claimed three scalps each for Southerns while for Northerns, Mitchel Mavunga will key with the ball.

The Southerns, in their quest to level the series, will be hoping that their batters come to the party after a poor display on Monday, apart from Mugeri-Tirapano who fell for a brilliant 110 runs from 111 deliveries. None of their batters managed to cross the 30 runs mark with their second leading run scorer being Modester Mupachikwa with 26 runs from 39 balls.

In the series opener, Southerns won the toss and elected to field first and they went on to restrict their opponents to 217/8 in 50 overs before they collapsed to 195 runs all out in 37,5 overs.

Granger top scored for the Northerns with a well played 53 runs from 81 deliveries while national team skipper, Mary Anne-Musonda fell four runs short of her half century on 46 runs from 53 balls.

Tshuma had the best figures with ball in hand, conceding 24 runs for her three wickets in 10 overs. Phiri gave away 38 runs in 10 overs as well.

In Southerns’ chase, only Mugeri-Tiripano stood up to be counted with her ton.

Four of Southerns’ batters fell without troubling the bowlers, scoring zero runs. Mavunga put up a brilliant spell for the Northerns with the ball, finishing with figures of 4/12 in six overs.

Nomvelo Sibanda, Precious Marange and teenage sensation, Kelis Ndhlovu all took two wickets each to guide their side to victory.

After today’s crunch encounter where there is all to play for from both teams, the last match of the series is set for Friday at the same venue. – @brandon_malvin