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THE Zimbabwe President’s XI finished third in Pool A of the Africa T20 Cup competition after three matches played at Sahara Park Willowmoore in South Africa over the weekend.Although they finished the tour on a winning note with an eight-wicket victory over Western Province on Sunday, the Zimbabwe President’s XI miss out on going through to the semi-finals and the subsequent final scheduled to be played over the first weekend of October.
In their opening fixture against Easterns on Saturday, play was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain,leaving the two teams to share the points.
In their next match which was against Northerns, Zimbabwe got to117 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted 20 overs.
The President’s XI struggled to contend with the swinging pink ball and only Malcolm Waller (36) and Richmond Mutumbami, also 36 runs, offered resistance. In reply, Northerns had to rely on the vast experience of Albie Morkel, whose unbeaten half-century made the run-chase that much easier against an otherwise polished Zimbabwe President’s XI bowling attack.Sunday’s final fixture against Western Province became a must-win encounter for the President’s XI and they restricted Province to 145 for 3 in their 20 overs.
Only Pieter Malan excelled withan unbeaten 79,as the rest of the Western Province struggled for fluency.
Zimbabwe’s reply was characterised by a series of steady partnerships at the top of the order by Kevin Kasuza and Peter Moor (70 for the first wicket), then Moor and Malcolm Waller (37 for the second) and finally Waller and Mutumbami (an unbroken 40 runs for the third wicket in three overs) of which Mutumbami contributed 20 runs off seven balls. The eight-wicket victory enabled Zimbabwe to finish on six points behind Easterns, who also had six points but a superior run rate, and eventual pool winners Northerns who finished with 10 points. —
Zimbabwecricket
Match 1
Easterns versus Zimbabwe President’s XI
Match abandoned without a ball being bowled.
Match 2
Zimbabwe –117for 8 in 20 overs (Malcolm Waller 36, Richmond Mutumbami 36; L.Ngindi 3/14)
Northerns – 118for 4 in 18 overs (Albie Morkel 53*; Wellington Masakadza 3/12)
Northerns won by six wickets.
Match 3
Western Province – 145for 3 in 20 overs (P. Malan 79*; Malcolm Waller 2/14)
Zimbabwe –147for 2 in 18.2 overs (Malcolm Waller 48*,Kevin Kasuza 41)
Zimbabwe won by eight wickets.—zimcricket/Sports Reporter
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