Zim Afro T10: League stage ends as Harare, Cape Town, NYS Lagos, Jo'Burg Bangla reach knockouts

The second season of the Zim Afro T10 is heading for the home stretch, with knockout stages around the corner. On the final day of the league stage on Friday, there was a lot of entertaining cricket on display, with the Cape Town Samp Army, NYS Lagos, and the Jo'Burg Bangla Tigers putting in clinical performances.

Up next, in Qualifier 1, the Harare Bolts will play the Jo'Burg Bangla Tigers, and in the Eliminator, the NYS Lagos come up against the Cape Town Samp Army. The winner of the Qualifier 1 will go straight through to the final, while the runner-up will play the winners of the Eliminator, for a berth in the summit clash on Sunday.

In the opening game of the day, David Warner finally came good for the Bulawayo Brave Jaguars, scoring a quickfire 47. He was supported by the big hitting Kobe Herft, who added 27, as the Jaguars posted 103/7 in their 10 overs. For the Samp Army, Salman Irshad was again among the wickets with figures of 2/15. In response, Dawid Malan batted brilliantly, scoring a free-flowing unbeaten 48, while Jack Taylor stayed not out with 28, as they rounded off a comfortable 8-wicket win with an over and half to go.

After that, the NYS Lagos were in action and they finished their campaign in the league stage with a big win. Avishka Fernando scored 46 and Rassie van der Dussen added 23 before being dismissed by a brilliant catch on the boundary, as the NYS Lagos posted 124/7. The Durban Wolves, who were playing for pride, could not get going as the Lagos bowlers kept them in check and picked wickets at regular intervals. Innocent Kaia top scored with 19 for the Wolves, while Blessing Muzarabani, Bodugum Akhilesh Reddy, and Joshua Bishop all took 2 wickets each to seal a 53-run win for the NYS Lagos.

In the final league stage game of the tournament, the Harare Bolts batted first against the Jo'Burg Bangla Tigers. Lahiru Milantha got them off to a flyer with a quick 32, while George Munsey added 20, Dasun Shanaka got 24, and Sabbir Rahman smashed 34 off 12 balls to take the score to 120/4 in 10 overs. In response, the Tigers batted superbly as captain Sikandar Raza led the charge with a game-changing 38 from 10 deliveries. Hazratullah Zazai added an important 22 and Tashinga Musekiwa's 18 helped seal the deal for the Tigers, who won by 4 wickets.

Brief Scores

Cape Town Samp Army 104/2 in 8.3 overs (D Malan 48*, J Taylor 28*, Victor Chirwa 1/9, C Brathwaite 0/19) won by 8 wickets against Bulawayo Brave Jaguars 103/7 in 10 overs (David Warner - 47, K Herft - 27, S Irshad - 2/15, Qais Ahmed - 2/22)

NYS Lagos: 124/7 in 10 overs (A Fernando: 46, R van der Dussen: 23, Raveen de Silva: 2/22, D Zadran: 1/19) won by 53 runs against Durban Wolves: 71/7 in 10 overs (Innocent Kaia: 19*, Mark Chapman: 12, J Bishop: 2/10, B Muzarabani: 2/12)

Jo'Burg Bangla Tigers: 121/6 in 10 overs (S Raza: 38, H Zazai: 22, Aftab Alam: 1/16, Dasun Shanaka: 1/18) won by 4 wickets against Harare Bolts: 120/4 in 10 overs (Sabbir Rahman: 34, Lahiru Milantha: 32, Luke Wood: 2/11, Tinashe Muchawaya: 1/24)