Mashonaland 345 and 275/5; Manicaland 123

John Ward08-Apr-2000Mashonaland 345 and 275/5; Manicaland 123.Mashonaland have won the Logan Cup, de facto if not de jure.After taking a first-innings lead of 222 over Manicaland, theydeclined to enforce the follow-on and pointlessly added a further275 runs before the close, leaving the visitors in a hopelesssituation.Under sunny skies, later to cloud over, Manicaland soon foundthemselves with their backs to the wall, with Bryan Stranggetting movement in the air and off the pitch. Neil Ferreira,backbone of the Manicaland batting, scored only 8, misjudging aball from Strang just outside the off stump, shouldering arms andhaving it nip back to hit his off stump. Strang got his nextball to swing in from outside leg stump and trap Patrick Gadalbw, and Manicaland were 12 for two.Steve Lawson saved the hat-trick, but he and Hamilton Masakadza,batting with great determination but few strokes, reallystruggled for runs, and there were times when overs bowledexceeded the runs on the board. Finally Lawson’s concentrationseemed to break, as he reached for a wide ball from Anton Hoffmanoutside the off stump to be caught by Campbell for 2; 19 forthree in the 23rd over, and quite a few of these were courtesy ofsome sloppy Mashonaland ground fielding.Even Mark Burmester struggled to get the score moving, as unevenbounce was another problem the batsmen had to contend with.Eventually Burmester, seemingly frustrated, walked across hisstumps to try to turn Gavin Rennie to leg, and was adjudged lbwfor 9; 41 for four in the 34th over, and Manicaland were in deepcrisis.At this point opener Masakadza, who had 14 from 96 balls, triedto take the initiative, and it worked. After a few positivestrokes the bowlers lost some of their accuracy, and he was soonable to keep the board moving, in company with StuartMatsikenyeri, without undue risk. The first four of the inningscame in the 38th over, a pull to deep square leg by Masakadza,and it remained the only four of the innings when lunch was takenafter 45 overs, with Manicaland now on 80 for four (Masakadza 41,Matsikenyeri 8).The after-lunch period was to prove disastrous for Manicaland,but triumphant for Strang. Matsikenyeri (9) reached for a ballfrom Strang wide of the off stump and edged a catch to thekeeper, with only a single added to the total. Dion Yatras (0),perhaps misreading a yorker, drove over the top to be bowled,then Terry Denyer (4) was also yorked; 92 for seven. There was abrief respite when Leon Soma came in and applied the long handle,especially to Gus Mackay, who overdid the bouncers and was pulledfor six and four.Unfortunately for Manicaland Masakadza finally fell for 53,driving outside off stump to be caught at the wicket, bringing toan end a fine innings just when it looked possible that he mightemulate Matabeleland’s Wisdom Siziba by carrying his bat throughthe innings on his debut. Jason Sparrow was given out lbw firstball, making the score 111 for nine, and all five wickets sincelunch to Strang.Brian James, at number eleven due to a fever, hung on while Somaattacked, hitting Rennie for six over long-on, but the latter wasfinally stumped off Rennie for 23, only the second batsman of theinnings to reach double figures. Manicaland were all out for123, 242 runs behind, but declined to enforce the follow-on.Strang had taken the remarkable figures of 21-12-20-7.As Mashonaland were in an unassailable position and the destinyof the Logan Cup as good as settled, Gus Mackay decided to batagain with a lead of 222, saying he also wanted to give hisbowlers a rest. Again Manicaland missed an opportunity, droppingRennie at short leg off a sharp chance in the first over. Afterthat, with the pressure off, the batsmen made hay against moreinaccurate bowling and by the tea interval had run up 77 withoutloss off 12 overs (Rennie 47, Gripper 28).The cricket after tea had little meaning. The bowling was nothreat, and the batsmen just took a glorified net practice inscoring 155 for the first wicket before Rennie was stumped offMasakadza for 87. Gripper, 86 in the first innings, again misseda century, scoring 78 before he hit a full toss from Burmesterstraight to Gada at mid-on.The last hour saw a brief flurry of wickets and big, sometimeswild, hitting. The renowned hitters Evans and Mackay did notcome off, the former run out attempting a risky second run toJason Sparrow for 10, and the latter stumped off Matsikenyere for5. Dan Peacock did, getting off his ‘pair’ with a six overlong-off and next over hitting another which rebounded off theclubhouse roof. He finished the day unbeaten with 38 off 26balls. Some wild swings, some better aimed than others, by thepromoted Everton Matambanadzo with 31 not out off 26 ballsbrought a pointless session to a close. Perhaps if Mashonalandmanage to rattle up another quick 200 by lunch tomorrow they mayconsider themselves safe enough to make a challengingdeclaration!