Eagles on top with third straight victory

After scoring a tight win in the one-day competition yesterday, Eagles thumped Tuskers again, by 71 runs in the Zimbabwe Twenty20 competition in Harare. Sikandar Raza, the star of the chase yesterday, scored 63 off 44 balls and shared a century-stand in 12 overs with Cephas Zhuwao (43) to set up a strong base for the Eagles. Regular wickets relatively slowed the Eagles down as 66 runs came off the last eight overs and it was mainly due to a 19-ball cameo by Elton Chigumbura, who hit three sixes in his 35.

Tuskers, looking for their first win, lost Charles Coventry in the first over of the chase to Kyle Jarvis. Craig Ervine joined Keith Dabengwa and shared a brief stand of 24 - the highest in the innings - but soon, Chigumbura struck once with the ball and then ran out Sean Ervine as Tuskers limped to 54 for 3 by the tenth over. Tuskers' innings went down a spiral as they lost quick wickets, Chamu Chibhabha and Tinotenda Mutombodzi sharing two wickets each. The innings folded after 18 overs after No. 11 Keegan Meth didn't take the field.

Eagles, with their third win a row, are at the top of the table, while Tuskers are at the bottom.

Mountaineers won their second game in as many matches, on the back of a century from Hamilton Masakadza. Mountaineers were put in to bat by Mid West Rhinos, and the decision didn't come off as opener Masakadza lasted till the final over, knocking off 103 off 59 balls before being bowled by Ed Rainsford. While there was no much support from the other end, cameos from Kevin Kasuza and Timycen Maruma alongside Masakadza were enough to propel them to 184 for 6.

By contrast, Mid West Rhinos lost opener Vusi Sibanda for a duck and had slipped to 52 for 4 in the ninth. They didn't recover, with the only contribution of note coming from No. 6 Steven Trenchard - he made 40 off 28 and remained unbeaten, but the Rhinos could still manage only 137 for 7, losing by a whopping 47-run margin.