Harare: The Cape Town Samp Army will end the second day of the inaugural Zim Cyber City Zim Afro T10 on top of the points table, after they eased past the Bulawayo Braves by 8 wickets and with more than 3 overs to spare. The Samp Army, who played two games on the day, won both in style, with the young Tadiwanashe Marumani starring in the second game.
Opting to bat first, the Bulawayo Braves got off to an excellent start with the duo of Ben McDermott and Kobe Herft getting out of the blocks very quickly. The openers were scoring at a good rate and giving the Cape Town Samp Army bowlers a fair bit to think about.
They put on 47 runs in the first four overs of the innings before Peter Hatzoglou packed off both McDermott (27) and Herft (18) in the same over. After that captain Sikandar Raza and Ashton Turner were in the middle and they looked to accelerate, but the Samp Army bowlers kept things tight. That led to the wicket of Turner (8) and Beau Webster (6).
Raza needed company in the middle from the likes of Ryan Burl, but the latter was dismissed for a first-ball duck, after which the skipper was castled for 17 by Richard Ngarava. The Braves never really got going after the openers were dismissed, and managed to put on 86 in their 10 overs.
In response, the Samp Army though made batting look easy under the lights at the Harare Sports Club. While they did lose Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck to the bowling of Taskin Ahmed, it was local hero Tadiwanashe Marumani who was leading the charge for his side.
Marumani and Bhanuka Rajapaksa put on a 25-run stand for the second wicket before the Sri Lankan was dismissed for 8 by Tanaka Chivanga. After that Marumani and Matthew Breetzke counter-attacked and scored at a good clip.
Marumani was in fine form through the evening and along with Breetzke stitched together a handsome partnership of 62 runs for the 3rd wicket that was enough to see the Samp Army win at a canter. Marumani finished the night unbeaten on 43 while his partner Breetzke was not out on 29.
Brief Scores:
Bulawayo Braves – 86/6 (Ben McDermott – 27, Kobe Herft – 18; Tom Curran – 2/12, Peter Hatzoglou – 2/23) lost by 8 wickets against
Cape Town Samp Army – 87/2 (Tadiwanashe Marumani – 43*, Matthew Breetzke – 29*; Taskin Ahmed – 1/18, Tanaka Chivanga - 1/21)
