ASHLEY DUBE
The Joburg Buffaloes will square off against the Durban Qalandars in the final of the Zim Afro T10. The Buffaloes secured their spot winning the Qualifier One when they faced fellow eventual finalists the Qalandars in a thrilling encounter.
They sealed their spot in style as they chased the record in the tournament with some enviable alacrity courtesy of some incredible batting from Yousuf Pathan.
The Qalandars had won the toss and elected to bat first, and on a track that had favourable batting conditions, they did not miss out as everyone contributed to set a mammoth total.
Andre Fletcher top scored with 39, with some support coming from Asif Ali (32 off 12) and Nick Welch (24 off 9) pushed the score to 140.
The Qalandars started their defence strongly and even took early wickets in the process. Tom Banton was bowled by Tayyab Abbas as well as Will Smead. Skipper Mohammad Hafeez holed out to his opposite number Craig Ervine off the bowling of Dupavillion.
The Buffaloes were in all sorts of trouble when Chatara got Bopara for one to leave them on 57-5. Yousuf Pathan stepped in to steer the ship back in control; and took the Qalandars’ bowling to the cleaners with an impressive 80 from just 26 deliveries. With 20 needed from the last over, Pathan swatted Chatara for three huge sixes as the Buffaloes secured a record chase with one ball to spare.
The Harare Hurricanes broke the record of the highest record run chase in the very next match as they chased down 145 in the very next match, the eliminator against the Cape Town Samp Army.
The Samp Army had set 146 for the Hurrricanes to win courtesy of tremendous batting in particular from leading run scorer Rahmanullah Gurbaz who top scored with 62 off 26 balls. (Gurbaz has also the highest number of sixes with 22.) Sean Williams finally came to the party with a solid 28 off 12 deliveries.
The huge total was chased down with four balls to spare as it was now Robin Uthappa’s show.
His 88 off 36 balls shook the Samp Army bowling attack as they had no answers for this incredible hitting. Donavan Ferreira was also in aggressive mood with his 35 coming from 16 balls with four sixes. The Hurricanes won by nine wickets.
The Harare Hurricanes went from the high of chasing the highest score of the tournament to the lows of setting the second lowest score of the tournament in Qualifier 2 for the other spot in the final. The Qalandars bowled brilliantly, particularly Chevron star Brad Evans who finished with figures 4-16 as they restricted the Hurricanes for just 82 runs.
The Qalandars hobbled their way to the target losing six wickets in the process but managed to win the match by four wickets. Brad Evans was named player of the match and with his four wicket haul is now leading wicket-taker.
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