daniel chigunwe
Blessing Malinganiza
Sports Reporter
The Zimbabwe Emerging side booked a place into the final of the Kwibuka T20I Women’s tournament despite a six wicket loss to hosts Rwanda yesterday.
It was Zimbabwe’s second defeat at the tournament in seven matches, having lost to Uganda earlier, but they prevailed due to a better net run rate having being tied with the hosts.
Both teams were tied on 20 points, but Zimbabwe had run-rate of 2.062 against Rwanda’s of 1.962.
Zimbabwe batted first before being restricted to 127 runs for the loss of three wickets in 20 overs.
It was not the best starts for Zimbabwe, who lost two wickets in the first two overs before losing their wicket of the day in the eighth over.
Ndlovhu, who has been in fine form at the tournament, was dismissed off the second ball of the second over before Runyararo Pasipanodya returned to the pavilion at the end of the same over.
With a low total looming for the Zimbabwe Emerging side, it took the experience of Loryn Phiri and Chiedza Dhururu for the team to post respectable score of 127.
The duo hit 58 and 42 from 39 and 54 balls respectively.
The Rwanda bowling attack was led by Rosine Irera with numbers of 4-22-2 while
Marie Bimenyimana had 4-16-1.
Aware of their predicament of needing a better run-rate than their opponents to secure a place in the final, Rwanda started their chase on fire as they scored 26 runs in the first five over before losing their first wicket of the day.
Rwanda went on to lose their second wicket an over later after adding nine more runs to their total.
Having been found wanting in their fielding and bowling, Zimbabwe managed to force the game into the final over where Rwanda secured the four runs needed off the first ball.
By then the Zimbabwe Emerging had already secured a place in the final against Uganda set for 2pm today.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter