MATABELELAND Tuskers produced a dismal show with the bat to give Mountaineers the lead on the second day of their Logan Cup four-day cricket match at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday.
The home side who bowled out the visitors for 203 in their first innings scored 191 in their first innings to remain with a first innings deficit of 12 runs.
Mountaineers were at the close of play last night leading by 89 as they made 77 runs for the loss of two wickets.
So pathetic was the Matabeleland Tuskers first innings that their highest score was only 41 runs from opener Dion Ebrahim. Wicketkeeper Tafadzwa Ngulube contributed 39 runs while Gregory Strydom chipped in with 32 runs.
Play resumed on the second day with Tuskers on 19 for no loss with Terrence Duffin and Ebrahim the two batsmen at the crease.
With Duffin and Ebrahim looking settled, medium pace bowler Hamilton Masakadza found the breakthrough for Mountaineers when he undid Duffin with a short delivery, the left hander attempting a pull shot only to be caught behind by wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu for 17 runs off 57 balls.
Ebrahim faced 93 deliveries and batted for 128 minutes before Shingirai Masakadza won a leg before wicket verdict against him.
Matabeleland Tuskers lost Sean Williams and Mark Vermeulen and were 96 for the loss of four wickets going into the lunch break.
The home side failed to build any meaningful partnerships at the top of the order and their best stand was for the sixth wicket between Ngulube and Strydom which yielded 76 runs.
Leg spinner Tymicen Maruma and fast bowler Shingirai Masakadza finished with three wickets apiece with one wicket each going to Hamilton Masakadza, Njabulo Ncube and Utseya.
The match enters its third day this morning with Mountaineers hoping to take a huge innings and give Tuskers a big target to chase. Matabeleland Tuskers on the other hand would be out to restrict Mountaineers to a target they can successfully chase.
Just wondering guys, but how fast is greg strydom ?? I'm just curios because on cricinfo his bowling style is described as " fast medium ". Now anthony ireland was only described as " Medium " pace and he bowls at 85mph plus. Is he quicker than that ?? Would be great if he was
Maruma and Cremer are turning out to be the starts of the tornumant, think that Utseya and Price need to raise there game or other wise there places in the side will be under servere threat
Tuskers should just now look for the drawn by batting through the whole day without losing much of a wicket.
For the spinners spot, I will again put the question mark over Utseya. Price is currently placed 5th/6th in the 2009 leading ODI wicket takers list taking probably 26 wickets.
Marmua once again the start, but what was Sean Williams doing batting at number 10? oh well he still scored 76 runs which gets him back in form
not looking good for the Tuskers at the moment, think the next games a must win or questions are going to be asked of Staddon and all the big name signings he has made.
With the talent they have available, Tuskers are misfiring badly at the moment. I notice that the cricinfo scorecard shows 2 sub fielders having take catches, Gavin Ewing and Freedom Takarusenga, it had looked as though Takarusenga had missed out with a franchise which rather surprised me, i thought that he was reckoned to be a good prospect. Hopefully there will be more players getting a chance to show their worth over the next few weeks, especially when the Bangladesh tour is underway.
Timycen Maruma can't do a thing wrong at the moment with bat or ball, it will be very difficult for the selectors to overlook him for the Kenyan series, a second very big innings for Hamilton Masakadza, it would be great if he keeps this sort of run scoring form together for Kenya as well.
Timycen Maruma can't do a thing wrong at the moment with bat or ball, it will be very difficult for the selectors to overlook him for the Kenyan series
I couldnt agree more. His turning out to be quite a star. And I think in he continues this trend in the Intercontinal match against Kenya. He deserves a place in the starting eleven of the national team proper. Only who will he replace. I would be tempated to pick him as an allrounder ahead of Sean Williams not taking anything from him his a great players as well.
CHRISTOPHER MPOFU: 'The problem was fear of failure. I used to think that when I played, if I didn't do well in one game, I would lose my place for the next one but now I've let go of that'
Very poor batting performance by the Tuskers. I reckon the composition of the team isn't right. Gavin Ewing is missing from the lineup. Form of the skipper Terrence Duffin is also a worrying sign for the Tuskers. Plus Coventry isn't firing in the FC matches. The bowling has been rather poor in the 2nd innings.
Yes, Tuskers has to get their XI right and consider other options as well likes of Bonaparte Mujuru, Gavin Ewing, Brendon Marsh etc.
It's been very unfortunate that Tuskers is lossing with an international Zimbabwean team lineup.
MATABELELAND Tuskers succumbed to their second consecutive loss in the Logan Cup when they went down by 204 runs to Mountaineers on the fourth and final day of the four-day cricket match played at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday.
Left handed batsman Sean Williams top scored with a fighting 76 runs but his effort was in vain as five wickets from leg spinner Tymicen Maruma saw Mountaineers bowl out Matabeleland Tuskers for 201 runs in their second innings.
This left Matabeleland Tuskers who lost their first match by 135 runs to Midwest Rhinos at Kwekwe Sports Club with two losses out of two matches.
Play resumed on the final day with the hosts still requiring 384 runs to record an unlikely win with nine wickets in hand. Matabeleland Tuskers were further hampered by a sickness to six of their players, Terrence Duffin, Mark Vermeulen, Sean Williams, Tawanda Mupariwa, Gregory Strydom and Dion Ebrahim who are understood to have suffered an infection that caused diarrhoea and vomiting.
Hopes of Matabeleland Tuskers escaping with at least a draw in the match vanished when they lost five quick wickets in the morning session without putting much runs on board.
Ebrahim was the first to go when Maruma had him caught by wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu. Maruma picked up his third wicket when he had Tuarai Madhiri leg before wicket.
Matabeleland Tuskers were four down when Charles Coventry saw his edge off a Shingirai Masakadza delivery carry to wicketkeeper Taibu.
Strydom was the sixth wicket to fall, playing back to a Maruma delivery and out leg before wicket to hand the leg spinner his five wickets haul.
Bulawayo born Njabulo Ncube returned to haunt his former team, forcing Vermeulen to edge and was caught by Taibu.
A resistance from Christopher Mpofu and Tawanda Mupariwa saw the home side progress to 75 for the loss of seven wickets going into the lunch break.
Mpofu and Mupariwa continued to frustrate the visitors but it was going to be a matter of time before the two gave in. A bowling change by the Mountaineers saw the visitors captain Hamilton Masakadza bring himself on to bowl and that worked out as he got a wicket with his first delivery, bowling Mpofu for 20 runs. Masakadza removed Mupariwa the same way as Mpofu and the Tuskers were nine down for 111 runs.
Williams played some beautiful strokes on his way to a well deserved half century before he threw away his wicket, lifted a delivery from Shingirai Masakadza to be caught by Maruma at deep cover and it was all over for Matabeleland Tuskers.
Williams faced 97 deliveries, hit 12 fours and one six during his 89 minutes stay at the crease. The left hander shared in a last wicket partnership of 90 runs with John Nyumbu who finished unbeaten on 14 runs off 42 deliveries.
Maruma picked up five wickets for 67 runs from 22 overs, four of which were maidens to finish with eight wickets in the match while Hamilton Masakadza took two wickets for 17 runs in four over, two of which went for no runs.
The two teams meet in a Faithwear Clothing one-day competition match at the same venue tomorrow.
Would be great if he was 
