CricInfo week continues- day 2 report

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the second day of the CricInfo Week at Prince Edward School in Harare was the seven-wicket victory of Matabeleland over the powerful visiting side from South Africa, Northerns. The Northerns team had not been beaten for two years, but now they found themselves restricted to 138 all out and then being unable to restrain their opponents, who owed most to a fine innings of 85 from their captain Keegan Meth of Whitestone School.

Manager/coach Luke Dancer had this to say: "The Northerns were put in to bat and started off fairly well, but the Matabeles managed to pick up wickets at regular intervals. Half an hour before lunch Northerns were all out for 138. Matabeleland batted before lunch for thirty-odd runs without losing a wicket, and afterwards passed the Northerns score with three wickets down. There was another fine innings by Meth who was 85 not out, and we continued batting to give some of the other team members a chance. It was a good day in the field."

Harare Development enjoyed their second convincing victory and Midlands suffered their second heavy defeat. Test player Gary Brent, manager/ coach of the Midlands side, said, "I thought we batted very poorly this morning; we only had one batsman getting into double figures, our captain Daniel Ashforth, who got 20 runs, looking very good, but then threw it away unfortunately. We came out bowling very well, I thought; the guys played with a lot of spirit, which is good from a Midlands side. Unfortunately they had some good batsmen in their captain and his support batsman Muzarabani, who won their Man of the Match award. I thought they put on a great partnership which really won the game, and we ended up fielding for four and a half hours, which was a long day for us. But all credit to Harare Development because they played really well, and all credit to their coaches, because they played very straight, very technically correct, and we hope to see more of them in future." As he spoke, his team were eagerly batting and bowling on the outfield, so I mentioned that they were obviously not professionals as they were eager to play when they did not have to! Gary laughed, and agreed.

The Development manager Square Square said, "We were on top of the situation as usual and after 10 overs their score was 29 for five wickets. We managed to get them all out for 61 runs, and then we batted for the whole day. My boys did pretty well. The Man of the Match for my side was Taurai Mazurabani, who batted very well, playing good shots. But I think Midlands are a better fielding side than my side as we dropped a few catches, and we need to improve on that next time."

Manicaland looked as if they were heading for a major comedown after their fine victory on the first day when the Combined Harare team dismissed them for only 92. However, thanks to some superb bowling from leg-spinner Cuan Taylor, they bundled out their opponents for only 41 to win the match handsomely. Manicaland coach Phil Nash said, "Manicaland did not bat that well on a fairly difficult pitch. Harare Combined bowled fairly well to get us out for 92. We bowled very effectively to dismiss them for 41. It was a good fielding and bowling performance by Manicaland, but not such a good batting performance. Cuan Taylor was Man of the Match for Manicaland; he opened with his leg-spinners and took seven wickets, and Dean Burmester, the seamer, took the other three. For Harare Combined, Holland took two wickets and Mike Rose bowled especially well to take two wickets. Nobody batted especially well; it was certainly a day when the bowlers came to light."

Harare coach Nick Munyurwa said, "My boys bowled very well, tight line, to get them 92 all out. Michael Rose was on top of the situation, took three wickets in ten overs and bowled a tight line. Ephraim Kahwiti, a promising off-spinner, supported him well, turning the ball sharply. The boys fielded well, taking all their catches and nothing was missed. At lunch we were 19 for five, and we were in crisis. When they came in for their second innings Tristan Holland bowled very well, tight line, off stump."

There was a rare drawn match in the encounter between Mashonaland West and Masvingo, with the latter holding on for a gallant draw with nine wickets down. Mashonaland West manager Graham Brown mentioned the fine bowling of Grade Six leg-spinner Andrew Buchanan, who took three wickets, while their captain Barry Stewart and Ryan Ervine also bowled very well. "They had totalled 185 after a shaky middle bit, and it was a nice close match towards the end; good cricket all round."

Masvingo manager Amos Ngundu said, "Our boys were fielding very tightly and managed to take three wickets in eight overs, which was better than they did yesterday. The outstanding bowler was Jeremy Richards, followed by Joy Murinye. When it came to batting, Joy stayed in for almost two hours; unfortunately he got a knock on his thumb so from that point he lost his control. Mashonaland West were quite a strong team, with a couple of good pace bowlers, very fast, on the line, good length, but they had a tough time getting our players out. My Grade 5 boy, Desmond Kruger from Kyle School, stayed in there from half-past nine until after tea, scoring 39 runs, and he was our Man of the Match today. We managed to sneak a draw today, which is very good for a young side that is made up mainly of Grade Sixes. I was very pleased with the performance."

Mashonaland East manager Paul Brous admitted that he thought his team had done enough to win the match against Harare North when they declared at 155 for eight, after losing three wickets for 23 runs after an hour and a half. "But after teatime we came through and Glen Quirl had a magnificent knock of 76 not out. A total of 150 I thought was good enough, but unfortunately they had a young man called Stuart Cameron who batted like an absolute star and won the game for them. On the whole the batting was brilliant, the fielding was good and it was a good game."

Harare North manager Tich Makunura said, "I think we bowled better than we did yesterday. Our guys came out and stuck at it well, and we managed to restrict them before tea. Then we rotated the strike, got ones and twos, with Stuart Cameron getting 78 and Ryan Higgins a fifty, and we managed to win by eight wickets."

This is not a competitive tournament, but so far three teams - Matabeleland, Manicaland and Harare Development - have two victories each. They will be playing in separate matches tomorrow, so with further good play could score a further victory apiece.

NORTHERNS 138 (L Mnisi 27, S Harmer 36; K Meth 3/37, B Hunt 4/21). MATABELELAND 177/6 (K Meth 85 retired, S Pema 25; J Lochtenberg 2/27). Matabeleland won by seven wickets. Man of the Match: K Meth (Matabeleland). No awards are being made to Northerns.

MIDLANDS 61 (D Ashforth 20; K Kondo 2/14, S Mwakayeni 3/15, B Denhere 3/10). HARARE DEVELOPMENT 173 (T Maruma 25, T Muzarabani 49; L Mukadam 4/45). Harare Development won by eight wickets. Men of the Match: T Muzarabani (Development) and L Mukadam (Midlands).

MANICALAND 92 (G Rigby 29; M Rose 3/17, R de Jong 2/14, E Kahwiti 2/10, R Swan 2/2) and 57/5. COMBINED HARARE 41 (C Taylor 7/23, D Burmester 3/10). Manicaland won by 51 runs. Men of the Match: C Taylor (Manicaland) and T Holland (Harare).

MASHONALAND WEST 185 (T Nyabonda 34, S Torr 47, S Moyo 43; J Richards 3/43, J Fensome 2/36, J Murinye 2/26). MASVINGO 102/9 (D Kruger 39; R Ervine 4/38, A Buchanan 3/22). Match drawn. Men of the Match: D Kruger (Masvingo) and A Buchanan (Mash West).

MASHONALAND EAST 155/8 (G Querl 76*; J Daniels 2/10, K Sivakumaran 3/26). HARARE NORTH 200/3 (S Cameron 78, K Sivakumara 21, R Higgins 52*). Harare North won by eight wickets. Men of the Match: S Cameron (Harare) and G Querl (Eastern).