Hafeez picked 6 wickets to derail the Bulawayo Braves.
Harare
The Joburg Buffaloes opened their campaign at the inaugural edition of the Zim Cyber City Zim Afro T10 with a thumping win as captain Mohammad Hafeez picked 6 wickets to derail the Bulawayo Braves. The Buffaloes won the contest by 10 runs in what was a tightly fought contest.
Batting first, the Joburg Buffaloes lost wickets at regular intervals from the initial stages. Will Smeed (4), skipper Mohammad Hafeez (1), Ravi Bopara (1) and Delano Potgieter (0) were all back in the hut within the first three overs, with Taskin Ahmed picking three of the first four wickets.
Rahim battled along after that even as the likes of Wessly Madhevere (5) and Wellington Masakadza (9) departed after looking good. Rahim eventually remained unbeaten on 46 as the Joburg Buffaloes huffed and puffed their way over the 100-run mark, and put on a score of 105/7.
During the chase, the Bulawayo Braves had their task cut out as batting under the lights was seemingly quite tough. Kobe Herft (9) and Ben McDermott (13) tried to get the Braves off to a good start and put on a 32-run stand for the opening wicket.
However, Mohammad Hafeez, The very experienced Hafeez then went onto to pick the wickets of Thisara Perera and Timycen Maruma, both for ducks, to leave the Braves reeling at 35/6 in the fourth over. That was Hafeez’s first over, in which he conceded 0 runs and picked 3 big wickets.
The Buffaloes’ skipper Hafeez was back in the attack for the next over, and much to the joy of his teammates, bagged three wickets, dismissing Burl (16), Tymal Mills (0) and Tanunurwa Makoni (0), to put his team on the brink of a comprehensive win. Hafeez finished his spell with 6 wickets.
Brief Scores
Johannesburg Buffaloes – 105/7 (Mushfiqur Rahim – 46*, Tom Banton – 34; Faraz Akram – 1/6, Sikandar Raza – 1/20)
Bulawayo Braves – 95/9 (Beau Webster – 39*, Ryan Burl – 16; Mohammad Hafeez – 6/4, Wellington Masakadza – 3/11)