Tuskers go second with 177-run win

A dominant performance by Matabeleland Tuskers saw them beat Mid West Rhinos by 177 runs at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, and move to second position in the Logan Cup table. Tuskers had a 95-run first-innings lead by early on the third day, but it was in their second innings that they really pressed home the advantage and set up the win.

Openers Paul Horton and Gavin Ewing tore into the Rhinos bowlers and scored 119 each, at strike-rates of 123.95 and 83.80 respectively. The quick scoring was continued by the rest of the batsmen and Tuskers reached 335 in just 54.5 overs, giving themselves plenty of time to bowl Rhinos out.

Staring at a mammoth target of 431 to win, Rhinos lost early wickets, and despite a half-century from Roland Benade at No.8, never looked like surviving. They were bowled out 42 overs into the fourth day, with seamers Thabo Mboyi and Njabulo Ncube taking three wickets each.

In the first innings, most of Tusker's top-order batsmen got starts, but it took half-centuries from Steven Trenchard at No. 5 and Tafadzwa Ngulube at No.7 to get them up to 393. Rhinos were then bowled out for 298, but it would have been much less if not for the efforts of Riki Wessels, whose 146 was the highest score in the match

While runs were aplenty in Bulawayo, they were in short supply at the Masvingo Sports Club, where table-toppers Mountaineers beat Southern Rocks by nine wickets inside three days in a low-scoring affair. Twenty-year-old seamer Tendai Chatara proved too much to handle for Rocks, who were bowled out for 177 and 94 in their two innings, with Chatara taking 6 for 33 in the first and 5 for 16 in the second.

In between, half-centuries from Tino Mawoyo and Timycen Maruma helped Mountaineers reach 218 in their first innings. Rocks' seamer Brian Vitori took 6 for 55, but there was not much he could do after his team's batting line-up collapsed in their second attempt, leaving Mountaineers just 54 to win on the third day.