Tuskers ready for Eagles
MATABELELAND Tuskers are confident of ending the 2018/19 domestic cricket season on a high note by winning the Pro50 Championship final against Mashonaland Eagles at Harare Sports Club today.
Ainsley Ndlovu, Tuskers’ 23-year-old captain, said his side wants to make up for a woeful Logan Cup performance where they finished at the bottom of the log without registering a win in six games.
Today’s final is a repeat of last weekend’s encounter between the two sides which Tuskers lost by four wickets. Tuskers had set a target of 283 runs after 50 overs, with a brilliant innings of 168 not out by national team batsman Craig Ervine for Tuskers, but Eagles put up a fine team effort to reach the 284 target with five balls remaining.
Ndlovu, a bright prospect for the country’s game, said: “It’s been a good performance for us in the shorter version and to lead such a great team with lots of experienced guys has been an honour. The senior guys have really been helping out. The fact that we’ve managed to come back from a poor Four-dayer and be in the final of a Pro-50 Championship is evidence of good character shown by the guys to turn things around.
“The confidence in camp is quite high and we want to win the game. If you look at the Pro-50 games that we’ve played, everyone came to the party, with special mention to our batters who took responsibility and scored good runs.
“The guys have definitely recovered from last weekend’s loss, which was a game we were supposed to win. We’ve worked on our mistakes. We’re familiar with the venue and most likely the conditions will be the same, meaning we can’t make the same mistake twice.”
He said although they will miss home support, they are not intimidated by playing in Harare.
“When we played those two games against Rhinos in Bulawayo the support was awesome. We’ll certainly miss home support but we’re not scared of playing at Harare Sports Club because this is where we played almost all our games this season,” Ndlovu said.
Coached by former national team cricketer, Douglas Hondo, who is being assisted by Mbekezeli Mabuza and Njabulo Ncube, Tuskers have in their books the experienced quartet of Christopher Mpofu, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza and spin-bowler John Nyumbu.
Opening batsman Brian Chari, young up-and-coming all-rounder Ernest Masuku, Sheunopa Musekwa (pace-bowler) and Stephen Chimamhiwa are some of Tuskers players expected in the weekend’s team.
Also fighting for positions in the team are Thabo Mboyi, Charlton Tshuma, Nkosana Mpofu, Tafara Mpariwa who captained the side in the Logan Cup and Cunningham Ncube. — @ZililoR