Matabeleland Cricket Report

With the re-scheduling of the Logan Club, the only cricket in Matabeleland is the National League. The following Matabeleland players have however been involved in a tournament and trials. The Africa Cup was held in Nairobi in late August and three Matabeleland players, Ian Engelbrecht, Matt Townshend and Charles Coventry, were selected for the Zimbabwe Development Team which reached the final, losing to Kenya. Engelbrecht was the bowler of the tournament with eight wickets and Townshend runner-up with seven.

The Zimbabwe Under-19 trials were held in Harare on 21 and 22 of October and Coventry, Duffin, Nicholl and Townshend attended. Sadly, Townshend tore a thigh muscle within his first two overs and as a result was not selected, while the other three were successful. Jordain Nicholl from Falcon College is a promising young fast bowler who plays for BAC in the National League.

In the national first league Mac Club hosted Queens and their losing run continued when they lost by 69 runs. Queens scored 226/8, using all their 50 overs, with ex-Test player John Rennie scoring 58 and Duffin and Van Rensburg 36 apiece. Gavin Wren led the bowling with three for 43, all in 10 overs. Mac Club could only reach 157 in 41.4 overs with new Zimbabwe cap Mark Vermeulen scoring 44 in even time. The bowling honours for Queens were shared by the left-arm spinners Ian Engelbrecht (four for 19) and young Ian Coulson (three for 25), ex-Falcon College team players. Rennie and Mbangwa had one for 73 between them in 15 overs.