Cape Town Samp Army dominate Durban Qalandars to maintain top spot

Harare, 24^th July, 2023: The Cape Town Samp Army continued to be a step ahead of their rivals, as they eased past the Durban Qalandars and won by four wickets with an over to spare, here at the Harare Sports Club in the inaugural edition of Zim Afro T10. The Cape Town Samp Army have now won 4 games on the bounce and are top of the points table.

Batting first, the Durban Qalandars lost the in-form Tim Seifert (1) early to Mujeeb Ur Rahman, after which Andre Fletcher (4) and Asif Ali (0) were quickly packed off by Karim Janat. Meanwhile, Hazratullah Zazai was doing the heavy lifting at the other end, and trying to keep the run-rate moving along at good clip.

However, he had little support, as Nick Welch (1) too was dismissed cheaply, after which George Linde dug in. The partnership of Linde and Zazai brought some respectability to the score, as they absorbed the pressure and then attacked, putting on a 49-run stand for the fifth wicket.

Zazai (43), who was closing in on a deserving half-century, though was accounted for by Tom Curran in the final over, after which Linde (25*) and Brad Evans (5*) took the Qalandars to 91/5 in their 10 overs.

In response, the Cape Town Samp Army lost the wickets of the in-form Tadiwanashe Marumani (6) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (7) within the first couple of overs. The Qalandars’ Mohammad Amir was bowling well, and it wasn’t easy to score freely in the early stages.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Karim Janat then steadied the ship with a 26-run stand, to keep the Samp Army on track. Gurbaz though could not convert the start and was dismissed in the 5^th over for 13. After that Sean Williams added 6 to the cause, before skipper Parthiv Patel joined Janat, with 38 needed from four overs.

The skipper though was dismissed for a duck and Janat was joined by Tom Curran, with the Samp Army needing 30 from the final three overs. Curran was cleaned up by Tendai Chatara for six but Janat was going great guns at the other end, and finished things off with a boundary, to help register a four-wicket win.

Janat remained unbeaten on 48, having hit five sixes and two boundaries.

Brief Scores

Durban Qalandars – 91/5 (Hazratullah Zazai – 43, George Linde – 25*; Karim Janat – 2/17, Mujeeb Ur Rahman – 1/11) lost by 4 wickets against Cape Town Samp Army – 95/6 (Karim Janat – 48*, Rahmanullah Gurbaz – 13; Daryn Dupavillon – 2/16, Tendai Chatara – 2/22)