Chronicle Editor
Brandon Moyo, [email protected]
AS the 2023/24 Logan Cup season comes to end with the last round of matches starting today, it was a campaign to forget for former champions Tuskers who found the going tough throughout the competition.
Tuskers find themselves languishing in position four out of the five team standings with only one victory to their name. However, they will be eyeing a strong finish when they face Rhinos – who have also been struggling at Harare Sports Club starting today.
The Bulawayo side registered their first win of the season last week when they defeated title chasing Mega Market Mountaineers by a mammoth 287 runs at Takashinga Cricket Club in the capital.
They were coming off a draw in a match which they dominated against Southern Rocks at their home ground, Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo and their experienced skipper Brian Chari said their target is to finish on a high.
He was impressed with the character his charges showed in their last games. He added that they have been working hard to make fortunes change on the field of play.
“I can’t really say it’s something that we are worried about but we have been trying as a team to turn the tables around and we have had some good few innings in the past games.
“We have been picking up in terms of performances, we are scoring 300 plus in an innings so there’s been massive improvement,” said Chari.
Sitting on number four with 84 points, Chari said they are hoping to, at least finish in third place.
“We broke it down to one innings at a time, we are not looking too far ahead but if we end up in the top three, it will be a great effort from the guys and we want to collect as many points as possible,” he said.
In their previous match against Mountaineers, Tuskers managed to score more than 300 runs in both innings of the match before going on to put up a brilliant bowling performance. In the first innings, the Bulawayo side were bowled out for 394 runs all out before going on to restrict their opponents to 272 runs all out to take a first innings lead of 122 runs.
In the second innings, they were equally good with the bat again, declaring on 340/8 to set Mountaineers an impossible target of 463 runs for victory. They would go on to limit their opponents to just 175 runs all out to collect maximum points.
Chari has been one of Tuskers’ consistent players and has scored 465 runs in 12 innings at 38,75. He is the league’s fourth leading run scorer behind Jonathan Campbell (675 runs), teammate Aliakbar Hamid (591 runs) and Tadiwanashe Marumani (534 runs). The skipper and Hamid have been exceptional with the bat for the Bulawayo side.
The match between Tuskers and Rhinos will not be the only blockbuster on the cards today. Mountaineers will be up against Eagles at Old Hararians Sports Club.
As the Logan Cup concludes, next up on the domestic calendar will be the T20 Championship which commences at the beginning of March.
The T20 league will also see English County side, Durham County Cricket Club participating at the tournament as part of their pre-season preparations. Durham are expected to jet into the country on February 19 and will play two three-day matches.
Today’s day one of what promises to be an exhilaration display of cricket is pencilled to start at 10AM. – @brandon_malvin
Online Reporter