Matabeland cricket report

National League continued in Bulawayo over the weekend, but it was not a good day for the Bulawayo sides which both lost to the visitors. At Queens the home side lost to Kwekwe by 82 runs, while Macdonald Club lost to Universals by 33 runs.

Queens upon winning the toss sent Kwekwe in to bat, and a solid 70 off 93 balls from former international player Dirk Viljoen and a 74-run partnership with former national captain and coach Dave Houghton saw Kwekwe finish on 240-8 in their allotted 50 overs. `Pommie' Mbangwa was the pick of the local attack with four wickets for 30 runs.

Chasing 241 to win at 4.4 runs per over, Queens after losing two early wickets never looked like causing an upset. Former provincial player Neil Van Rensburg was top scorer with 48 runs.

Universals scored 294 for eight against Mac Club in their 50 overs due mainly to a superb innings from young Blessing Mahwire who in a most delightful innings narrowly missed a well-deserved century by 6 runs. Mahwire's innings showed potential in that he is one of a very select band of players who is prepared to use his feet and hit in the so-called V, straight, which eliminates any chance of mishits and is not easy to contain, as young off-spinner Steve Brown found out.

In reply Mac Club only managed 269 for nine, with Wisdom Siziba scoring a fluent 55, a most encouraging knock from one of the latest players to graduate from the Academy.

Players in Matabeleland are also aware that the names of the Matabeleland Logan Cup squad are due to be announced shortly and are hoping early-season performances will catch the eye of the selectors.