It was a thrilling start to day four of the Zim Afro T10 as Harare Hurricanes upstaged Joburg Buffaloes by whiskers. Batting first, the Hurricanes got off to a decent start as Robin Uthappa smashed 31 off 20 balls while Evin Lewis pounded 19 off 9. However, post that the Hurricanes went into a bit of lull until another late surge by Irfan Pathan who smashed 15 from just 8 balls to propel the Hurricanes to 106.
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The Buffaloes were dealt a couple of early blows as Tom Banton and Milton Shumba were back to the hut without troubling the scorers shortly while Will Smeed and Yusuf Pathan got the wheels rolling. Despite Ravi Bopara’s destructive knock, Joburg could only garner 104, falling short of the finish line by two runs. Nandre Burger was the pick of the lot with three wickets while he was aptly supported by the duo of Chris Mpofu and Brandon Mavuta, plundering four wickets between them.
The second game of the day was also another low-scoring thriller where Durban Qalandars got off to a feisty start as Hazratullah Zazai powered to a 27-ball-43 while George Linde provided a late flourish to help the Qalandars pile up 91 despite a decline in the middle-order. Karim Janat was the pick of the lot with figures of 2/17.
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Despite Durban chipping away at wickets regularly, they could do very little to fend off the Samp Army from making it to the finish line in time as a heroic display from Karim Janat saw them home as he smashed 48 off 17 balls. Daryn Dupavillon and Tendai Chatara did share four wickets between them but it wasn’t enough to reel Cape Town in.
The Hurricanes returned for a second game on the day as their batters took it upon themselves to track and whack the Bulawayo bowlers to every nook and cranny of the park. Uthappa got off to another seraphic start while Evin Lewis brewed a storm with a fiery 49 from just 19 balls. Donavon Ferreira smashed 21 from just 12 balls to set up the highest team total in an innings till then in Zim Afro T10 that read 134/4.
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Sikandar Raza rose above others with the bat in his hand as he took over the reins of the match and started flexing his muscles in the most bedazzling fashion. Leading the show with a captain’s knock , Raza won his team a historic victory with a rollicking 70 from 21 balls while Kobe Herft played another blitz clobbering 41 off 23 as the Braves racked up the highest team total in Zim Afro T10 with 137 runs and secured the bragging rights emphatically.
