Matches played on Sunday 9 January 2000

MACDONALD CLUB v ALEXANDRA SPORTS CLUB, at MacDonald Club, Bulawayo

Alexandra Sports Club won by seven wickets

MACDONALD CLUB ALEXANDRA
R Bullivant lbw b Young 17 D A Marillier b Abrams 11
B Jacobs c Gurr b Anticevich 5 J Wells not out 14
*M D Abrams b Anticevich 2 *G J Rennie c Wren b Abrams 15
K Querl b Anticevich 2 A M Blignaut c Price b Wren 21
H A Price c Bilgnaut b Gilmour 24 J Vaughan-Davies not out 1
S Commerford c Marillier b Anticevch 0 B Bath
S Wilson c Blignaut b Rennie 4 C M Anticevich
M Langlois b Gilmour 0 A R G Gilmour
S Brown not out 4 +C M Gurr
G Wren c Marillier b Gilmour 0 G du Plessis
M Tamrein b Rennie 3 J A Young
 (lb 2 w 4) 6 (b 1 lb 4 w 3 nb 1) 9
 (28.4 overs, 107 min) 67 (3 wkts; 11.2 overs, 43 min) 71

du Plessis 5 2 13 0 Wren 6 1 35 1
Young 5 0 11 1 Abrams 5.2 0 31 2
Anticevich 7 4 5 4
Vaughan-Davies 7 2 27 0
Rennie 2.4 0 7 2
Gilmour 2 0 2 3

A wet pitch at MacDonald Club delayed the start of play and the match was eventually reduced to 35 overs per side. Alex won the toss and put MacDonald into bat. The uneven bounce in the pitch made batting difficult and the home side were bundled out for a paltry 67 with Craig Anticevich and Andrew Gilmour getting amongst the wickets.

Despite rain forcing the players off the field during the Alex reply, the weather did improve enough for Alex to return to complete a comprehensive victory.

OLD HARARIANS v MANICALAND, at Old Hararians Sports Club

Old Hararians won by 115 runs

OLD HARARIANS MANICALAND
E A Brandes b Soma 15 +R K Barbour lbw b Brandes 5
P K Gada b Whittall 78 K Went c Delport b Strang 10
R W Price c Ziehl b Lawson 22 *M G Burmester lbw b Strang 19
*D P Viljoen lbw b Ziehl 63 G J Whittall c Gada b Rawnsley 59
G B Brent c Burmester b Ziehl 14 S Lawson b Strang 3
B C Strang run out 7 K G B Ziehl st Delport b Price 1
R Sims not out 16 L Adams c Delport b Price 0
+C Delport not out 3 G Penford st Delport b Price 0
M J Rawnsley L Soma run out 0
R Butterworth A Tayler not out 2
R Godden D Purceville c Viljoen b Rawnsley 0
 (lb 9 w 13 nb 4) 26 (b 2 lb 4 w 23 nb 1) 30
 (6 wkts; 50 overs, 217 min) 244 (36 overs, 144 min) 129

Tayler 4 0 19 0 Brandes 5 0 13 1
Soma 10 0 35 1 Brent 4 0 28 0
Burmester 7 0 33 0 Strang 10 1 19 3
Lawson 9 0 42 1 Price 9 2 21 3
Whittall 10 2 32 1 Rawnsley 6 1 24 2
Ziehl 10 0 74 2 Butterworth 2 0 18 0

Log leaders OH won the toss and elected to bat first against a Manicaland side missing three players still enjoying their New Year break. Lack of practice due to recent rains in the Mutare area cost Manicaland as they spilled early chances offered by the OH batsmen. OH were able to dominate the depleted bowling attack and post a respectable total, although exciting Manica prospect Leon Soma bowled with impressive pace, and Guy Whittall bowled well without luck.

Manicaland got off to a flying start in reply, thanks to some loose bowling from OH. Young Kingsley Went, who has been selected for the Zimbabwe Cricket Acadamy, looked composed against national bowlers Eddo Brandes and Gary Brent before being given out caught behind. Manicaland then lost quick wickets before Mark Burmeister and Guy Whittall steered Manicaland back into contention with a 50-run partnership. The introduction of spin into the bowling attack, however, swung the game back in favour of the home side, as the Manicaland batsmen struggled in particular against the left-arm orthodox bowling of Ray Price, and OH maintained their form in the league with another win. Manicaland will be disappointed that, despite some close umpiring decisions and excellent spin bowling by OH, they were not able to capitalise on a good start.

QUEENS SPORTS CLUB v OLD GEORGIANS SPORTS CLUB, at Queens Sports Club

Match drawn (rain).

OLD GEORGIANS QUEENS SPORTS CLUB
G W Flower c Gilmour b Mbangwa 2 R J King c Barrett b Rowett 5
L S Malloch-Brown c Mbangwa b Rennie 9 O Mutsandire b Evans 25
C B Wishart not out 107 N R van Rensburg b Evans 4
C N Evans c Gilmour b Rennie 0 I A Engelbrecht c Barrett b Evans 13
*A J Mackay b I Engelbrecht 60 J A Rennie c Evans b Mackay 27
S Wright c Mbangwa b Lucas 28 A Lucas c McCoun b Mackay 14
G Barrett c King b P Engelbrecht 0 P N Engelbrecht c Mackay b McCoun 0
D Oberholtzer lbw b Lucas 1 +W Gilmour not out 9
B D McCoun c PEngelbrecht b Mbangwa 14 *M Mbangwa not out 0
A G Steyn b Mbangwa 0 J Knott
D J Rowett J Wareham
 (lb 6 w 15 nb 1) 22 (b 2 lb 7 w 11 nb 1) 21
 (9 wkts; 50 overs, 205 min) 243 (7 wkts; 21 overs, 81 min) 118

Rennie 10 2 20 2 Rowett 5 0 24 1
Mbangwa 10 4 36 3 Steyn 4 1 12 0
P Engelbrecht 5 0 50 1 Flower 3 0 12 0
Lucas 8 0 56 2 Evans 5 0 37 3
I Engelbrecht 10 2 26 1 Mackay 3 0 15 2
Knott 7 0 49 0 McCoun 1 0 9 1

Rain forced a halt to play after seven overs of Queens' reply. Once the rain had stopped, the umpires inspected the pitch and called the game off due to dampness at one end. However, the two captains decided to play on with Queens needing 156 in 25 overs after a Duckworth-Lewis calculation. After 21 overs and with Queens in serious trouble, the rain intervened once more, forcing the match to be abandoned.

UNIVERSALS SPORTS CLUB v HARARE SPORTS CLUB, at Universals Sports Club

Universals won by four wickets

HARARE SPORTS CLUB UNIVERSALS SPORTS CLUB
N R Ferreira c Robinson b Hondo 2 D R Matambanadzo caught 21
T R Gripper c Sirdar b H Adam 28 K Adam caught 2
D J Peacock c Hondo b H Adam 7 T N Madondo bowled 6
*+D J R Campbell c Robinson b Shah 8 D D Ebrahim caught 16
J Oldrieve c Ebrahim b Meman 47 *A H Shah not out 71
A P Hoffman lbw b Shah 1 +B I Robinson bowled 37
G D Ferreira c and b Mutendera 35 H Adam bowled 0
L Mutyambizi c Ebrahim b Meman 19 A Meman not out 2
B W S Pswarayi b Hondo 10 D T Mutendera
A A Brooks not out 3 M Sirdar
B T Watambwa run out 3 D T Hondo
 (b 2 lb 4 w 3 nb 1) 10 (b 4 lb 3 w 6 nb 6) 19
 (48.2 overs) 173 (6 wkts; 47.4 overs) 174

Mutendera 10 1 30 1 Pswarayi 10 2 32 2
Hondo 8 1 25 2 Watambwa 10 0 37 3
Shah 10 4 16 2 Peacock 10 1 30 1
H Adam 8 1 37 2 Hoffman 10 1 32 0
Meman 10 1 39 2 G Ferreira 6 0 30 0
Sirdar 2.2 0 20 0 Brooks 1.4 0 6 0

At Universals, the home side, without Alistair Campbell, Everton Matambanadzo and Hitesh Hira, hosted Harare Sports Club who were without Stuart Carlisle and Mark Vermuelen.

HSC won the toss and elected to bat on a dry, slow wicket, but were soon in trouble at 50/5. HSC recovered to 173 all out, thanks to some good batting from Oldrieve and Ferreira and some sloppy fielding by Universals who dropped five catches in the field. Douglas Hondo bowled with pace and the evergreen Ali Shah once again showed his undeniable class with a return of 10-4-16-2.

In reply Universals were soon in trouble at 25/3 due to some very quick bowling from Brighton Watambwa, but solid partnerships between Shah and Dion Ebrahim and then Shah and Brad Robinson saw Universals through to victory by four wickets, with Shah undefeated on 73. Rain threatened to interrupt the game near the end, but international umpire Russell Tiffin allowed play to continue through the drizzle, thus avoiding the necessity for Duckworth-Lewis calculation.