Competition thrown wide open
Northerns and Southerns were the winners in the second round of the 2007-08 Faithwear Cup
Cricinfo staff
29-May-2008
The Faithwear Cup was thrown wide open after the second round produced wins for Southerns and Northerns, who had both lost in the opening matches. The results leave Westerns as the only one of the five sides without a loss to their name.
Defending champions Northerns bounced back from their defeat by Westerns to record a three-wicket win over Centrals at Harare Sports Club. Boosted by the return of Ray Price, who took 3 for 24, they restricted Centrals to 172, and even that represented a recovery as at one stage they had been teetering on 13 for 4. At 75 for 6, Northerns appeared to be heading for defeat but Price (38) and Graeme Cremer (54*) put on 83 for the seventh wicket to steer them to the brink of victory.
Tendai Machiri's 53 was the platform in Southerns' 25-run defeat of Easterns at Harare Country Club. Southerns made 164 in a laboured innings, but even that modest score proved too much for a weak opposition who had Forster Mutizwa's career-best 49 to thank for preventing a complete rout.
| Team | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Pts | Net RR | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westerns | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | +1.900 | 212/50.0 | 117/50.0 |
| Southerns | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.180 | 293/100.0 | 275/100.0 |
| Centrals | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -0.049 | 308/100.0 | 303/96.5 |
| Northerns | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -0.835 | 291/96.5 | 384/100.0 |
| Easterns | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.500 | 139/50.0 | 164/50.0 |