Chisoro shines in Rocks’ first Logan Cup win of the season
ZIMBABWE international Tendai Chisoro grabbed a remarkable five-wicket haul to help Southern Rocks complete a massive innings and 117 runs victory over Health Alliance Eagles at Old Hararians yesterday.
The left arm spinner effectively decided the match when he picked up four wickets, including a hattrick, in the 81st over, before he returned to clean up the tail for his seventh First Class five-wicket haul.
The 33-year-old finished with eight match wickets, following his impressive 5-35 yesterday.
It did not matter it took the Masvingo-based outfit six games to get their first win this season but Rocks are back in contention in the four-day competition after climbing to third place with 30 points.
They are now level on points with second placed Mountaineers, who held on to a draw against log leaders Tuskers at the Harare Sports Club yesterday. The two teams got five points each and Tuskers remained at the top on 33 points, with the competition now in the second round.
Rocks got their first 10 points of the season with the victory yesterday. Fourth-placed Eagles were no match for Rocks as they were bowled out for 229 shortly after lunch.
They had resumed the fourth day looking to build on their overnight score of 156/2. Overseas player Will Fraine looked set to lead the resistance on the final day before he fell for 88 runs.
Despite the setback, they still had hopes for a share of the spoils with the score on 163/3, and the whole day to bat. But the middle order could not hold on long enough as wickets continued to fall at regular intervals before the collapse, which saw them lose five wickets for three runs, in a space of just under three overs.
Eagles had also fallen short with the bat in the first innings when they got dismissed for 166 runs.
They were forced to follow-on after Rocks had declared at 512/8 following a majestic batting display that was headlined by Tadiwa Marumani’s maiden First Class century.
The 20-year-old top order batsman’s 102 runs gave Rocks a memorable innings as four other players weighed in with half tons in the first two days of batting.
Marumani batted for over seven hours in all before he fell lbw to Tapiwa Mufudza in his patient build up to his maiden first class hundred. Marumani made his first class debut last year and has played eight first class cricket matches.
His 153-run partnership for the first wicket with Innocent Kaia (88) was key. Then there were fifties from the Northamptonshire professional Ben Curran (75), Tafadzwa Tsiga (84) and William Mashinge (59).
In another match that concluded yesterday, overseas player Ben Compton scored his second century for Mountaineers this year to force a draw against Tuskers at Harare Sports Club.
The 27-year-old was unbeaten on 109 runs and had faced 287 balls at the close of play. Mountaineers were chasing a daunting target of 339 runs and should have been content to bat the whole day. They finished with 171/4, having begun the day on 55 runs, with two wickets down.
The Mutare-based side were left with a tall order after Tuskers had made 125 and 397, all out in their two innings. Nick Gubbins had given Tuskers a strong position with his 174 runs while Tanunurwa Makoni (67) and Tafara Mupariwa (57) weighed in with half tons in their second innings.