Rain holds off for start of CricInfo schools tournament

The CricInfo Week for Zimbabwean primary schools got off to a good start at Prince Edward School in Harare yesterday. The threatened rain did not materialise, although the loss of two successive days' play in the Johannesburg Test suggested they might be sending their weather up north when they have had enough of it, as they usually do.

Ten teams are taking part, including a visiting side from Northerns in South Africa, who are captained by a girl. Matabeleland also include a girl in their line-up, medium-pacer Robyn Williams of Whitestone, whose father Trevor is a former Matabeleland player. These are the first two girls to take part in the Cricket Week.

An innovation in this Cricket Week was the introduction of a Man of the Match award, a plaque to take home, to the best player on each team. The manager of the opposing team makes the nomination.

The most comprehensive victory of the day was by Manicaland, who scored 277 for eight and then dismissed Midlands for 48. Manicaland manager Cedric Hitz, of Mvurachena School in Chipinge, said: "There was strong batting from our boys early on and they followed it up with good fielding and bowling."

Their Man of the Match was pace bowler Dean Burmester, son of former Test player and current Manicaland captain Mark, who destroyed the Midlands batting with five wickets for five runs in seven overs. Opening batsman Orrie Fernandes must have come close, as he hit a sound 79, while the most entertaining innings came from Robert Hunter, with 49 off 34 balls, including five fours and three sixes. The Midlands Man of the Match was pace bowler Brett Kinsey, who restricted the opposition to two for 44 off his 13 overs.

Matabeleland were no doubt delighted to defeat arch-rivals Harare by nine wickets. Manager Luke Dancer said: "Due to some tight bowling by the Matabeleland boys and the one girl in the team, we restricted Harare North to 84 all out. Brendon Hunt of Portland School was probably our best bowler and he picked up three wickets off eight overs. Keegan Hunt, our captain, scored 63 runs. It was a very satisfying victory."

Harare manager Tich Makunura admitted: "We got out to some silly mistakes. Although our bowlers tried very well we didn't have enough runs on the board. Sean Durrad came in when we were in trouble and rotated the strike nicely, and ended up getting 20 runs in 20 overs. He then kept wicket very well."

Mashonaland West enjoyed a similarly convincing victory, beating Combined Harare by nine wickets. Harare manager Nick Munyurwa was disappointed with his team's batting and bowling, but praised Man of the Match Michael Rose for his innings of 30 out of 95, and Mashonaland's Victor Chaitezvi, who scored 70 not out: "He was very good with short singles and could select the right balls to play and drive; he was on top of the situation." Of his own team he said: "It was the first match and I hope the boys will pick up tomorrow."

Northerns showed their batting prowess with the highest total and individual score of the day, hitting Mashonaland East for 285 before declaring with nine wickets down. Wikus van Vurren scored 97. To their credit the Mashonaland side were undaunted and secured a draw with ease, losing only one wicket in the process.

Their manager Paul Brous was pleased with his side's achievement, "apart from bowling a bit short. At teatime we were 85 for one, and showed a lot of guts and determination against some tidy bowling, and we eventually ended up at 147 for one. Our Man of the Match was Gary Balance, who scored 67."

Runs were harder to come by in the match between South Eastern Districts and the Harare Development side, with both teams fully dismissed during the day. Development manager Square Square said: "Our boys did well today. We had a good start, and our opening batsmen Samuel Mwakayeni (36) and Brighton Denhere (17) were quite disciplined at the crease. They made a good partnership of 72 runs."

Manicaland 277/8 (O Fernandes 79, R Hunter 49, I Baines 39, B Paterson 27; B Kinsey 2/44, D Ashforth 2/34, R Austen 2/32). Midlands 48 (D Burmester 5/5, C Taylor 3/13). Manicaland won by 229 runs. Men of the Match: D Burmester (Man) and B Kinsey (Mid).

Harare North 84 (S Durrard 20; B Hunt 3/15, Y Wiesenbacher 2/12). Matabeleland 145/9 (K Meth 63; R Higgins 2/10, B Mansfield 2/23). Matabeleland won by nine wickets. Men of the Match: S Durrard (Harare) and K Meth (Mat).

Combined Harare 95 (N Rose 30, R Swan 14*; S Torr 2/20, R Ervine 3/26, B Stewart 2/18). Mashonaland West 183/2 (B Stewart 22, R Ervine 36, V Chaitezi 70*, C Hulley 30*). Mashonaland West won by nine wickets. Men of the Match: M Rose (Harare) and V Chaitezvi (Mash).

Northerns 285/9 (W van Vuuren 97 A Sheikh 84, S Botha 36; T Negri 5/115, S Steynberg 4/54). Mashonaland East 147/1 (S Foreman 29, G Balance 64*, G Querl 37*). Match drawn. Men of the Match: G Ballance (Mash); Northerns not recorded.

Harare Development 132 (S Mwakayeni 36, T Maruma 37; J Richards 3/16, D Kruger 5/19). South Eastern Districts 73 (T Maruma 4/16, K Kondo 2/8, S Mwakayeni 2/2, B Denhere 2/6). Men of the Match: T Maruma (Dev) and D Kruger (SE).