Zim Afro T10 Day 4 Results: Hurricanes Edge Joburg, Qalandars Fall To Samp Army, Sikandar Raza’s Prolific Form For The Braves Continues

ASHLEY DUBE

Here are the results and match reports for Day 4 of the Zim Cyber City Zim Afro T10 League, Harare Sports Club, Zimbabwe.

Hurricanes make it 2 in 2

Some brilliant bowling from Mohammad Nabi and Nandre Burger was instrumental as Harare Hurricanes held off the Joburg Buffaloes in a tightly contested affair.

With 24 runs needed from the last two overs, Nandre Burger only conceded six runs and also took two wickets, leaving Nabi to defend 18 from the final six.

The Afghan veteran did enough against Ravi Bopara and impact player Matthew Campbell as he only conceded 16 runs to secure a two-run victory.

This was the Harare Hurricanes’ second win of the tournament whilst the Johannesburg Buffaloes still have a solitary victory from Day 1 against the Bulawayo Braves.

After they set 107 for the Buffaloes to win, the Hurricanes bowled well and never allowed the Buffaloes to get over the required run rate, denying them any sort of comfort or control of the game.

Nandre Burger removed Joburg’s opener Milton Shumba for a duck, before Chris Mpofu had Tom Banton caught at deep midwicket.

Yousuf Pathan took Brandon Mavuta to the cleaners, hitting him for a four and two sixes – but the leg-spinner had the last laugh as Pathan was caught out off the leg-spinner’s tempting delivery. The wickets were shared all-round with Mpfou getting a couple as well.

Nandre Burger was named Player of the March for his brilliantly instrumental bowling performance.

Cape Town Samp Army beat the Durban Qalandars

Karim Janat produced an impeccably incisive all-round performance as he led the Cape Town Samp Army to a four-wicket victory over the Durban Qalandars.

Janat – following his excellent bowling performance, finishing with figures of 2-17 – held his nerve in a tight spot to close the run chase with an incredible 48 runs from 17 balls.

The Qalandars’ batting innings started on a sluggish note as they lost in-form batter Tim Seifeirt earlier on, who was bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

What ensued was a sluggard batting display as they struggled throughout the game, with wickets worryingly tumbling at regular intervals.

The Durban Qalandars finished on 91-5 off their ten overs.

Harzatullar Zarzai top-scored with 43 and George Linde was impressive with his 25; but other than that, there were no contributions of any worth and significance from the rest of the batting line-up.

The Cape Town Samp Army almost followed the same route as the Qalandars’ innings, with Tadiwanashe Marumani – who has been enjoying a rich form of profuse, hard-hitting batting – falling in the first over.

Wickets continuously crumbled with disconcerting frequency, courtesy of some impressive and enviable bowling attack from Darryn Dupavillion, Tendai Chatara, as well as Brad Evans.

The crucial turning point materialized in the eight over when the Cape Town Samp Army decided to take on their floating power-play – and Karim Janat took Mohammad Amir to the cleaners, leaving his side needing 12 runs from the remaining 12 balls.

The Samp Army chased the target with a flair of relative ease as Janat scored the triumphant runs – a boundary off the bowling of Chatara.

Janat was named Player of the Match.

Sikandar Raza unbelievable in prolific record chase for the Bulawayo Braves

Bulawayo Braves pulled off the biggest chase of the tournament when they defeated the Harare Hurricanes by seven wickets with five balls to spare.

Luxuriant all-rounder Sikandar Raza played a super pivotal role in this innings with the fastest fifty of the tournament coming from just 15 balls.

The extra-ordinary innings ended when Raza was caught out on 70 runs off twenty-one balls; with only two runs needed for the win.

Sikandar Raza combined heavily with Kobey Herft for the highest partnership of any wicket in the ongoing Zim Afro T10 tournament.

The Hurricanes were put in to bat first, and commenced their innings like a house engulfed with a raging inferno as they raced to 49 from the first three overs (18 balls).

Robin Uthappa and Evin Lewis menacingly posted 76 runs for the first wicket under five overs, and threatened to put the highest score.

Evin Lewis was then dismissed when he was one run short of his 50 – and the Braves did a respectable job to pull back the Hurricanes; but they still had to chase a record title for the win and they obliged.

With the win, the Bulawayo Braves leapfrogged the Harare Hurricanes to third spot on the Zim Afro T10 League on the basis of a superior net run rate (NNR).

Sikandar Raza was named Player of the Match.