Harare(PNP)
The young Zimbabwean fast bowler Tinashe Muchawaya produced a bowling performance that would be remembered for quite a long as he snatched the win for the Jo’Burg Bangla Tigers from the jaws of defeat against the Cape Town Samp Army.
The Tigers, who were captained by Sikandar Raza, were staring at defeat, before Muchawaya turned it around in the final four deliveries, to give the Tigers the Zim Afro T10 title, at the Harare Sports Club.
Asked to bat first, the Jo’Burg Bangla Tigers’ openers were out of the blocks at good pace. Kusal Perera and Mohammad Shahzad took the attack to the Cape Town Samp Army bowlers, and were finding the boundaries with relative ease.
The two openers raced away to a half-century stand, adding 59 in the less than four overs, before the Sri Lankan departed for 33 from 11 deliveries when Qais Ahmed trapped him LBW. The big-hitting Shahzad, who scored a match-winning half-century in Qualifier 1, was still in the middle and now had Hazratullah Zazai, who walked in at one-drop, for company. At the five-over mark, the Tigers were cruising along at 60/1. Tashinga Musekiwa smashed his first ball over the ropes for a six after that, as the Tigers finished with 129/5 in 10 overs.
In response, the in-form Brian Bennett picked off 12 runs of Adam Milne’s first over, while Luke Wood took the second over, and that gave the Samp Army 9 more runs. Dawid Malan and Bennett were coming into the final on the back of some good form and were looking assured in the middle.
Malan got to his fifty with a drive through point, and then started to bring out his full range of shots. In the final over, the Samp Army needed 21 to win with. And that’s when Muchawaya took charge. The youngster was smashed for a couple of sized off the first two deliveries of the over by Jack Taylor, but he bounced back in fantastic fashion, and tied up the batters, to take the Tigers to a 5-wicket win.