Harare,
While all eyes were on David Warner on Day 4 of the second season of the Zim Afro T10, it was the likes of Najibullah Zadran, Dasun Shanaka, Shehan Jayasuriya and Sikandar Raza, who stole the show at the Harare Sports Club. The NYS Lagos, Harare Bolts and Jo’Burg Bangla Tigers registered comprehensive wins on the day with the Bolts leading the points table.
Batting first, the NYS Lagos lost the dangerous Rassie van der Dussen early before Avishka Fernando (36) and Najibullah Zadran (43) took charge. Zadran smashed four sixes and a boundary in a 33-run over, after which Ryan Burl (22) and Joshua Bishop (18) made healthy contributions to propel the score to 134/5 in 10 overs.
In response, the Wolves had Sharjeel Khan leading the charge with a stroke-filled 59. However, the Lagos bowlers picked regular wickets and didn’t let the other batters get going. Regis Chakabva added an unbeaten 27, but it wasn’t enough as NYS Lagos came away with the win.
After that, it was the turn of David Warner and the Bulawayo Brave Jaguars to take centre stage. However, the Harare Bolts took control and restricted the Jaguars to 96/8 in 10 overs. Anamul Haque scored 22 and Nick Hobson added 35 for the Jaguars, while Shehan Jayasuriya and Richard Gleeson picked 2 wickets each.
In the second innings, the Jaguars’ bowling looked dangerous early on as Daryn Dupavillon picked 2 wickets and Akila Dananjaya grabbed 1, but no one was able to stop the dangerous Dasun Shanaka, who scored an unbeaten 47 and took his team over the line in grand style as he smashed four consecutive sixes to put the seal on a 7-wicket win.
In the final match of the evening, the Cape Town Samp Army opted to bat first. Brian Bennett (11) and Rohan Mustafa (28) started off brightly before the Jo’Burg Bangla Tigers’ bowling picked a few big wickets. Sikandar Raza finished with figures of 3/9 as the Samp Army were restricted to 82/7.
From then on in, it was the Sikandar Raza show at the Harare Sports Club. He scored an unbeaten 62 and singled-handedly took the Tigers over the line with more than an over to spare and five wickets in hand.