Provincial A Twenty20 2007-08

Easterns maintain domestic strangehold

Cricinfo staff

March 21, 2008

Easterns maintained their increasing stranglehold on Zimbabwe domestic cricket with a seven-run win over Westerns in the final of the Twenty20 cup at Harare Sports Club.

Easterns total of 142 for 9 was almost entirely down to Hamilton Masakadza's 57-ball 82 not out, and his eighth-wicket stand of 43 with his brother, Shingirai, was the only partnership of note.

Westerns were on course while Keith Dabengwa (42) and Gregory Strydom (38) were adding 62 for the third wicket but Prosper Utseya put the brakes on the innings and the last five wickets fell for 27 runs.

Unsurprisingly, Masakadza was named Man of the Match and Player of the Tournament. He hammered 101 in the opening game of the competition and followed with 50 in the second match.

Easterns won the Faithwear Cup and the Logan Cup in 2006-07, and so are now holders of all three major titles. Cricitics, however, have pointed out that the side is not representative as few, if any, of the players are local and are Harare-based cricketers imported for the competition. There were also concerns of the standard of the cricket on offer.

Sadly, yet again, despite being rebuked by the ICC in 2006-07, Zimbabwe Cricket proved unable to provide the media with scorecards for many of the games, with the result that the competition's profile was tarnished and reports of games minimal. That was reflected in dire turnouts for matches.

© Cricinfo

Add to del.icio.us | digg this | Stumble It What's this? If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content on cricket, you may use these buttons. When you add them to any of these sites, you "social bookmark" them for others to find and rate. More on del.icio.us>> More on digg>> More on stumbleupon>> Close

Live scores, results, news, features and more - a click away Download the Cricinfo Toolbar Current Cricinfo fantasy games - SL v Ind, Eng v SA & County Cricket Login and check the standings Live scores, ball-by-ball commentary & news direct to your phone Cricinfo's mobile services

Stories

Poor standards blight Zimbabwe Twenty20

Matches

Twenty20 final scorecard

Players/Umpires

Hamilton Masakadza

Series/Tournaments

Metropolitan Bank Twenty20

Zimbabwe Domestic Season

Teams

Zimbabwe