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Mountaineers – 267 for 5 in 50 overs (Roy Kaia 85*, Kudzai Sauramba 75, Tinotenda Mawoyo 31; Wellington Masakadza 2/43, Tatenda Gumunyu-Manatsa 1/28)

Mashonaland Eagles – 207 all out in 44.5 overs (Gregory Lamb 73, Wellington Masakadza 47, Joylord Gumbie 18; Tapiwa Mufudza 4/28, Shingirai Masakadza 4/43, Natsai M’shangwe 1/41)

Mountaineers won by 60 runs.

A fine fighting innings of 73 runs by the Mashonaland Eagles captain, Gregory Lamb, was not enough to save his team from defeat by Mountaineers at Harare Sports Club on Sunday.

Mountaineers themselves were indebted to a fine fifth-wicket partnership of 125 runs between Roy Kaia and Kudzai Sauramba to give them a good total, and after the failure of the Mashonaland Eagles top order, the home team always had an uphill struggle.

Both coaches announced full teams for this match, apart from the international players who are in camp pending their imminent departure for the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Mashonaland Eagles lost six international players and Mountaineers three, but Hamilton Masakadza and Tendai Chatara were among those three — a major loss!

On a mostly sunny morning, Mashonaland Eagles won the toss and put Mountaineers in to bat.

Mountaineers opened with their captain, Tinotenda Mawoyo, and Kevin Kasuza — neither of whom has been in good form recently.

They had a narrow escape early on, when Mawoyo (2) edged a ball that should have been caught at second slip, but for the fact that only one slip was in place.

After that they batted well against quite good seam bowling, posting the team 50 runs after 12 overs. But on 61 runs, Mawoyo was bamboozled and bowled by a clever slow yorker from Admire Manyumwa, for 31, and in the following over, Kasuza (29) nudged a ball from Tatenda Gumunyu-Manatsa to the keeper. This left Mountaineers on 64 for two in the 16th over at drinks.

Then came a period of attempted consolidation, but Charles Kunje went for 10 and Forster Mutizwa for 18, both to the left-arm spin of Wellington Masakadza. Roy Kaia stayed there but there was nobody who looked likely to dominate the bowling. Kaia reached his fifty off 75 balls, with Kudzai Sauramba as his new partner.

Sauramba passed 20 and then began to look like a batsman ready to take control. He pulled three big leg-side sixes off the spinners and the 200 came up in the 44th over, followed by Sauramba’s fifty off 41 balls. He continued to hit, and on 68 was dropped at short midwicket off a huge skyer.

Finally, though, he was caught off another skyer on the midwicket boundary for 75, scored off 53 balls with five sixes and just one four. His stand with Kaia had added 125 in 16.3 overs: score 250 for five in the 49th over.

Kaia was dropped on the midwicket boundary and escaped being run out before the innings ended, with his own score on 85 not out (134 balls and eight fours) and the team total 267 for five. That superb partnership had turned a potentially ordinary target into a challenging one.

Wellington Masakadza, with two for 43 off his 10 overs, came out best of the bowlers.

Mashonaland Eagles, with their depleted batting line-up, needed a good start, and this they failed to get. Three leg before wicket (lbw) decisions removed Kudzai Maunze, Cephas Zhuwao and Keith Kondo, all for single figures, leaving the score 23 for three wickets.

Ryan Burl looked like starting a fightback, with three crisp, impressive fours, but then he drove rather weakly into the covers to be caught for 17: 53 for four in the 12th over. Next to go was Joylord Gumbie, driving a simple catch to mid-off for 19, to make the score 87 for five after 18 overs.

Lamb, though, was not going to go down without a fight, and he finally found a reliable partner in Wellington Masakadza. Both kept the scoreboard ticking over well, taking advantage of bowling that was not always accurate, and the score mounted steadily. Lamb reached his fifty off 51 balls and the partnership grew.

If the Mountaineers team had become complacent after taking early wickets, they now had cause for concern.

The batsmen did have some good fortune: Masakadza on 38 miscued a ball just over the head of cover, while Lamb on 71 drove a low catch into the covers that went down. But finally Lamb seemed to lose concentration, as he drove over a yorker from Shingirai Masakadza and was comprehensively bowled for 73. It was a fine fighting innings, with eight fours off 74 balls.

In the next over, Wellington followed, lbw to Tapiwa Mufudza, for 47 off 67 balls, and Mashonaland Eagles were now 189 for seven after 39 overs.

The 200 came up in the 42nd over, but the home team now needed a near-miracle to bring them victory, and in the end they could only manage 207.

Shingirai Masakadza, with four for 43, and Mufudza, four for 28, were the most successful bowlers, but some of their colleagues did not bowl particularly well. —zimcricket.