Westerns Win Inter-Provincial 'B' Twenty20

[maehara]

In a typical case of ZC under-promotion, I didn't even realise this had taken place, so over to ZC for the tourney report:

Westerns - 142 for 8:
(B. Staddon 50, T. Ngulube 24; B. Vittori 2/27, L. Madzingwa 1/12)
Southerns - 135 for 8:
(G. Banda 46, R. Mutumbami 22; K. Moyo 2/22, B. Staddon 2/24)

Westerns won by 7 runs.

WESTERNS were on Friday crowned the Inter-provincial Twenty20 B section champions when they beat Southerns by seven runs in the final played at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.

A team made up of promising cricketers from Bulawayo and Matabeleland North and coached by Stanley Timoni, Westerns finished the tournament unbeaten and on top of the log.

Westerns skipper Bradley Staddon won the toss and opted to bat first. He made 50 runs off 34 deliveries at number five while opener Tafadzwa Ngulube chipped in with 24 runs from 22 balls as Westerns posted a challenging 142 for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.

Left-arm seamer Brian Vittori picked up two wickets for 27 runs while Lenox Madzinga got one wicket for 12 runs.

Needing 7.15 runs an over, Southerns lost four quick wickets before Zimbabwe under-16 player George Banda brought them back into contention.

The match got exciting in the last few overs as Southerns needed 11 runs from the last over - and with Banda victory seemed certain.

Staddon took it upon himself to bowl the last over and did not disappoint. In a dramatic turn of events, Banda collided with Jephius Chivange as they scrambled for a quick single and was run out for 46 runs, which came off 38 deliveries.

At the end of their innings, Southerns had 135 runs for the loss of eight wickets. For Westerns, Kendrick Moyo had two wickets for 21 runs and Staddon two for 24.

From Bulawayo, the provincial second-string sides proceed to Harare for their 50-over tournament which gets underway on Saturday.

[brmtaylor.com admin]

Staddon is pretty much assured a place in the Westerns 1st XI now one would think.

Vittori's name rings a bell... did he play Logan Cup a few years ago?