Northerns cruise to Logan title

Northerns secured the Logan Cup title with a thumping innings-and-98-run win over Centrals at Kwekwe Sports Club. The result meant they ended the tournament with a 100% record and given that they beat Easterns, the defending champions, in the opening round, their success was well deserved.

Brendan Taylor's 150 and Ishmael Senzere's 131, his maiden hundred, provided the foundations for Northerns' 493 for 7. Senzere and Alois Tichana got the innings off to a flier with a stand of 193, and then Taylor flayed a tired and dispirited attack while the in-form Ray Price chipped in with a late fifty.

Centrals were as good as buried by the close of the second day as they slid to 114 for 6. They followed on 335 in arrears, and although they did slightly better second time round, none of their batsmen were able to play the dominant innings needed and no one passed 40.

At Bulawayo, Southerns thumped a very disappointing Westerns by nine wickets in a low-scoring game. Westerns, who last season beat Northerns by an innings and have Robin Brown, the national coach, among their technical team, have lost all three games and face a tough task in the last match when they meet Easterns. Only when Southerns raced to victory with 137 for 1 did the bat dominate the ball.