Mountaineers race to third straight win

The Mountaineers notched up their third win of the competition, beating Matabeleland Tuskers by eight wickets in Bulawayo. Timycen Maruma made his maiden limited-overs century, scoring 104 off just 81 balls, and added 111 with opener Tino Mawoyo (50) and an unbeaten 97 with captain Hamilton Masakadza (51) to seal victory with 17 overs to spare. But before the ruthless batting performance, the bowlers had put in a collective effort to restrict the Tuskers to a chaseable 217. The Tuskers had lost their first three wickets for 34, but the middle order chipped in with starts - which they weren't able to build on - to take them to a respectable score. Sean Williams top scored with 58 and Gary Ewing made 48, but their efforts proved inadequate in the wake of an unforgiving display from the Mountaineers batsmen. The Tuskers have now lost each of their two games in the tournament.

In a more closely-fought contest in Harare, the Southern Rocks prevailed over the Mashonaland Eagles by five wickets to win their first game of the competition. The Eagles were favourties to take the game once they had reduced the Southern Rocks to 69 for 3 but Steve Tikolo (82) and Craig Ervine (83 not out) led the recovery with a 95-run fourth wicket stand to bring the chase back on course. Tendai Chitongo (33 not out) then supported Ervine to see the Southern Rocks home with nine balls to spare. Earlier, each of the Southern Rocks bowlers, with the exception of Tendai Chisoro, bagged at least a wicket apiece to restrict Mashonaland for 236. The Mashonaland batsmen, like the Mountaineers in the other game, failed to capitalise on starts; Greg Lamb made 48, and captain Elton Chigumbura contributed 42. As it proved, their final score, despite testing the Southern Rocks, wasn't match-winning.