National champions Old Hararians look set to continue their domination of club cricket this season after a comfortable four-wicket win over rivals Old Georgians in the third week of the Mashonaland Vigne Cup. Both teams went into the match at Old Georgians Sports Club with unbeaten runs and the arrival of national team players from Bulawayo made the encounter even more interesting.

Holders Old Georgians were dismissed for 218 in 49.3 overs with Craig Wishart top-scoring with 60. National team seamer Gary Brent finished with two wickets for 29 off his 10 overs. Sean Ervine also took two wickets off his 10 overs but was more expensive, conceding 56 runs. The OH bowling was wayward at times and they conceded 38 extras with Nyasha Chari bowling 11 wides in his eight overs.

Old Hararians reached their victory for the loss of six wickets with eight balls to spare. Richard Sims made 55 while Ervine weighed in with an unbeaten 42. Travis Friend finished with almost the same bowling figures as Brent, taking two wickets for 29 off 10 overs. However, Friend bowled six wides while Brent had five wides.

Harare Sports Club condemned Universals to their third successive defeat in the tournament with a crushing nine-wicket victory. Dion Ebrahim played his first domestic match and finished with an unbeaten 91 batting at number three as Universals made 252/5 in their allotted 50 overs.

Harare Sports Club needed just 39.3 overs and three batsmen to reach their victory target. Opener Mark Vermeulen was the only wicket to fall after making 67. Fellow opener Trevor Gripper and Stuart Carlisle were unbeaten on 76 and 92 respectively.

The other match was at Alexandra Sports Club where Alex beat winless Takashinga by three wickets in a low-scoring match. Takashinga made 185/9 in their allotted 50 overs with Hamilton Masakadza top-scoring with 34.

Opener Doug Marillier led the Alex reply with 45 runs as the hosts reached 186 with 17 balls to spare. National reserve wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu took his wicket tally to seven in two matches as he finished with three for 43 off his 10 overs. In the previous match against Old Hararians Taibu took four for 35 off 10 overs.

© CricInfo