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Descent Dube, Sports Reporter
ALTHOUGH the Spar Bonsa T20 round five matches were low scoring, there were outstanding performances by Blazers skipper Njabulo Ncube and Raptors bowler Jonathan Conolly as pressure mounts on all six teams to secure a place in the play offs at the Old Mutual Heath Streak Cricket Academy on Sunday.

In the first match, Blazers scored a bonus point win when they overcame Tigers by 163 runs, whose highlight was a magnificent knock of 63 by Ncube.

Tigers’ opener Bright Phiri scored a quick 33 as they attacked the Blazers’ bowlers, but experience came in handy when national team player Christopher Mpofu and Matabeleland Tuskers’ Thabo Mboyi and Tanatswa Bechan restricted the Tigers.

Mpofu said the atmosphere had been good and dedication from his teammates was the secret behind their recent success.

“The games have been incredible. Despite the fact that I’m a national team player, the reality is that as much as the boys learn from me, I learn a lot from them as well, which makes us a great team,” said Mpofu.

Blair MacFarlin fought back with 41 not out, but the Tigers were never up with the run rate and finished their innings on 127-7, some 37 runs short of the target.

The second match saw the Badgers sent in to bat by Sabres and their innings got off to the worst possible start when Tafara Mupariwa edged Jeffrey Muriyengwe’s first delivery of the match into the slips.

This brought Thamsanqa Nunu to the crease and he and Aidan Smith repaired the Badgers’ innings by building a good partnership until a mix up brought Sabres their second wicket with the score on 37.

Nunu scored a breezy 34 before he was caught off the bowling of Peter Nyandoro. The rest of the Badgers team chipped in with their innings ending on 130, which earned them a bonus point.

Shane Musekwa, the tournament’s leading wicket taker, led the Badgers’ bowling attack and struck three times in his first two overs to severely hamper the Sabres’ chase. However, it was young Anele Ngwenya who really hammered the final nail in the Sabres’ coffin when he blew away the middle order with figures of 4-18 in 2.4 overs.

Only Dalu Mboyi looked to fight back and his knock of 26 looked solid until he tried to hit Ngwenya to long on and was caught.

Badgers made it a five-point win by securing an additional bowling point when they bowled out Sabres in 13.4 overs.

In the last match, the Raptors added to their fighting reputation by battling back after being restricted to 90 runs in their allocated 20 overs.

Young Jonathan Conolly’s 5-17 in four overs left the Hawks floundering and poor shot selection saw the Hawks being bowled out for 70 in 14.3 overs. The Hawks must be kicking themselves for not capitalising on a golden opportunity to take a big scalp, but several of their top batsmen got out to poor or wild shots.

Raptors skipper Flemming Nkomo said his team should have won the match earlier than expected and was optimistic they will come out victorious at the end of the season.

“Scoring 130 was going to be easy for us to defend. We will definitely win the tournament because whatever comes our way, we just need to thrash it,” said a confident Nkomo.

Former Zimbabwe skipper and coach Heath Streak said the league continues to give players exposure and their body language demonstrates the effectiveness of playing every week.

“This league is a great opportunity for the players to grow in terms of tactics and competitiveness. We hope fans will continue coming as their significance is seen by the improvement shown by the boys every week,” said Streak.

He said the future looks bright and the Spar BonsaT20 has the potential of being a platform where stars can be born.

Table
P    W    L    T    BP    PTS    N/R
Badgers    5    4    1    0    9    21    1.5999
Raptors    5    3    1    1    5    15    -0.343
Blazers    5    3    2    0    5    14    0.282
Tigers    5    2    3    0    1    7    0.637
Hawks    5    1    4    0    3    6    -1.290
Sabres    5    1    3    1    1    5    -0.384
— @DecoDecent2