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Rhinos – 232 & 165-8 in 46 overs (PJ Moor 50, Nyasha Mayavo 25, Tendai Chisoro 20; Donald Tiripano 5/42, Roy Kaia 1/6, Wellington Masakadza 1/32)
Mountaineers – 153 all out in 58.3 overs (Roy Kaia 39, Wellington Masakadza 25, Natsai M’shangwe 19; Neville Madziva 3/21, Carl Mumba 2/17, Tendai Chisoro 2/34)
Day 2 – Stumps: Rhinos lead by 244 runs with two wickets remaining
Excellent seam bowling from Neville Madziva and Donald Tiripano made run-scoring quite difficult at Kwekwe Sports Club on the second day of the Logan Cup match between Rhinos and Mountaineers.
The pitch has a spongy patch at the Goldridge College end, and Madziva for Rhinos and Tiripano for Mountaineers were able to take advantage of it and return good figures.
Mountaineers began the day at 67 for four wickets in reply to the Rhinos’ first-innings total of 232 all out.
The key batsman was Roy Kaia, who had scored 30 not out while his top-order colleagues had failed on the first day, but he only made nine more runs before he was caught at slip off Madziva, and Mountaineers were 88 for six with all their top batsmen gone.
Tiripano scored 10 runs in gritty style to take the score past 100, but the team did well to recover to make 153.
They owed this to their ninth and tenth batsmen: Wellington Masakadza played a very valuable innings of 25, the only batsman apart from Kaia to pass 20, and Natsai M’shangwe restrained his usual hit-or-miss batting style to score a responsible 19.
Madziva returned the fine figures of three wickets for 21 off 11 overs, supported well by fellow seamers Carl Mumba (2/17) and Mike Chinouya (2/42), while left-arm spinner Tendai Chisoro also took two wickets, for 34 runs.
Vusi Sibanda had the pleasure of finishing off the innings with the wicket of M’shangwe.
In a low-scoring match Rhinos’ first-innings lead of 79 was a very significant advantage, but their batsmen did not make the best use of it.
Tarisai Musakanda, after his first-innings century, failed to play himself in second time round, and he drove loosely at the first ball he faced, from Tiripano, and was caught at mid-off.
Sibanda (12) and Prince Masvaure (18) made starts to their innings, but failed to follow through to substantial scores.
PJ Moor scored 50, being the only batsman in the team to date to pass 25; he played his strokes very well, but even he had been dropped before he had scored.
Five wickets were down for 57 before Nyasha Mayavo joined Moor and almost doubled the score, which was 112 when he was out for 25.
Madziva, doubtless unwilling to let his fine bowling go to waste, knuckled down to score a determined 19 not out by the close, while Chisoro hit big and briefly for 20 off 15 balls, including two sixes.
At the close Mumba was in with Madziva, having scored three; Rhinos have a lead of 244 runs but have only two wickets left.
Tiripano has already taken five wickets out of eight, but his fellow bowlers have not always supported him as strongly as they might have done.
The bottom line for Mountaineers, the reigning Logan Cup champions, is that they will have to compile the highest total of the match in the final innings if they are to win, never an easy task at the best of times.
The odds greatly favour the home side, but Mountaineers are not champions for nothing.
It could be a fascinating struggle with an exciting finish to see if the champions can summon enough fighting power and skill to pull off what would be a remarkable victory — if they can achieve it.
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