MID West Rhinos 330/7 (50 overs) Southern Rocks 230 (42.1 overs) Mid West Rhinos won by 100 runs
Report by Sports Reporter
Birthday boy Vusi Sibanda smashed an impressive 190 to steer Mid West Rhinos to an emphatic 100-run victory over Southern Rocks in a 50-over match at Masvingo Sports Club yesterday. Sibanda, who celebrated his 29th birthday yesterday clobbered 24 fours and seven sixes in 157 deliveries to steer Rhinos to a competitive 330 for seven after being sent in to bat before losing early wickets. Sibanda and Graeme Cremer (63) led Rhinos’ recovery after Rocks’ paceman Brian Vitori had ripped through the visitors’ batting lineup to remove Mark Vermeulen, Brendan Taylor and Malcolm Waller for ducks.
Vitori would go on to finish as the pick of the bowlers for Rocks with figures of there for 49 in 10 overs although his batmen licked a lot of runs. Rocks’ opening batting partnership of Roy Kaia (27) and Alester Maregwede (31) gave the hosts some hope with a 66 run opening stand inside the first 10 overs before departing in consecutive overs.
The English duo of Ben Slater (46) and Peter Burgoyne (43) restored some hope before they also fell in consecutive overs under relentless pressure from the spinners. Part-time offspinner Malcolm Waller claimed wickets at regular intervals to finish with four wickets for 29 runs while fellow offspinner Simon Mugava claimed three wickets for 46 runs.
Rhinos’ win saw they shoot to the top of the log table ahead of Mountaineers because of a superior net run rate. The Grant Flower-coached side will be hoping to complete a double over their opponents when they meet in a Twenty20 encounter this morning.
