Logan Cup Report: Midlands v Manicaland

The Logan Cup match between Midlands and Manicaland at Kwekwe Sports Club had an exciting finish, with underdogs Manicaland eventually triumphing by two wickets on the final morning. Midlands captain Dirk Viljoen spoke to ZCO about it. He himself suffered a neck injury batting against Henry Olonga during that match and was doubtful for the game against Mashonaland this coming weekend.

It was essentially a great game. We (Midlands) were very positive going into the game; we had our strongest side out, except for Craig Wishart, which we thought was a lot stronger than their side, as they were missing Guy Whittall. After our Matabeleland game, where we had a few teething problems - as we expected in the first game - we though we had ironed out our problems and we were ready to go. We thought our batting side was stronger than theirs and we had three or four national bowlers.

We thought we were a lot stronger in both batting and bowling departments. All credit to them: they bowled a great line and length and we managed to get ourselves out on a pitch that turned a little but wasn't really any trouble to the batsmen; we should have got runs on there. As our number eleven showed: Campbell Macmillan got 109, applied himself fantastically and showed that if number eleven can do it, why couldn't the rest?

We were 148 for nine at one stage. I went in to bat when we were 19 for two, and like I said the pitch didn't really have any demons in it; basically our guys were playing all the shots and kept nicking the ball, or hitting it in the air and getting out. I batted very slowly, but felt that if I stuck around every run we got was important. Campbell and I have batted together before; we put on a hundred partnership for the last wicket against North West in the UCBSA competition, and we did it against Mashonaland last year.

When he arrived at the crease he said to me, "I'm not getting out," and I replied, "Well, I'm not, either," and we carried on from there. He played some fantastic cricket shots, good positive cricket, took the easy options, hit the ball really hard, nice and straight, and before he knew it he was on 109. I only managed 61 but I was quite happy to stay down the other end and watch the ball sail over the boundary!

I'm sure Manicaland thought they would bowl us out for 160, but I think they showed a lot of respect to Campbell: they all congratulated him. Obviously there was a bit of luck involved; he hit a few balls that went past the odd hand or through the slips, but you take your chances, and he made the most of his luck and got himself to a hundred. I still didn't think 291 was enough for the first innings; we could have won the game in the first innings, but it was better than 160 all out.

Manicaland bowled well at Campbell to start with, but I think that when they're nine down you sometimes try too much. A lot of the time they were giving me one run and trying to bowl at Campbell. He would hit two fours and two sixes in the over, and before you knew it he had 50, and you looked again and he was on 100. It's very difficult to say to your bowlers, "If the balls you bowled to the top order got them out, they should get number eleven out as well." It's always the case in cricket that whenever a tail-ender comes in you try and bowl him out. Maybe they were a bit guilty of that, but like I said all credit to Campbell, who played a fantastic knock, with some great shots that I've seen from top-order batsmen, hitting the ball for six over extra cover.

Blessing Mahwire bowled well for Manicaland, good line and length, good discipline; Henry Olonga looked like he was coming back to a bit of form, with some quick deliveries, and was hard to score off on that kind of pitch. But basically it wasn't their bowlers seaming and swinging the ball huge distances, but their getting the ball in the right areas and us doing the rest; we just got ourselves out.

We then bowled at them and overnight they were 120 for two. We bowled really well, and Campbell Macmillan took the first two wickets; I think he had a fantastic day. Travis Friend bowled well and obviously Raymond Price was bowling a lot on a turning pitch. Young Innocent Chinyoka, new from the Academy, also chipped in and spread the wickets around; we managed to bowl them out for 251. We were quite happily surprised with; the lead of 41 we thought was a good lead on that pitch, which was deteriorating.

We went in to bat again, and the same kind of thing happened as in the first innings. We all just played shots again and we all got out, and before you knew it we were 263 all out. To set them a target of 305 wasn't bad, but it wasn't our choice; they bowled us out and it was the highest total of the match.

We thought we could still defend that with the bowling attack we had. We were a little unlucky; we put one catch down at third man - Guy Croxford, who made 52 and it cost us nearly 50 runs. A few balls went in the air and managed to drop in the gap, a few lbw decisions that might have gone either way didn't go our way, lots of plays and misses - and they managed to scrape home with two wickets to spare.

Blessing Mahwire batted well and got 38 in the end; Gary Brent batted extremely well and got 43. That won them the game, because with them 221 for six we were looking really good. They still needed almost 100 runs and we had the tail in - which hadn't done very well in the first innings. But Gary and Blessing showed good application and they managed to scrape through in the end.

Raymond Price on his home pitch caused them trouble, but like I said we were a little unlucky. I'd just have to say Lady Luck wasn't on our side this weekend. But that's how cricket goes: one day the luck is with you and the other it's not.

I wouldn't say we deserved to win the game; I still say it was in the balance, and it was more a case of ourselves losing the game than their winning the game. But, like I said, they showed good discipline when they bowled and more discipline when they batted, so I think a victory for them was well deserved.

I think it was a really good game. It didn't go the full four days, but for three days it could have gone either way. It's good for cricket and it bodes well for the future that everyone is getting stuck in. I think the Logan Cup so far has been really good, barring maybe the one game in Manicaland that was totally one-sided. I think cricket is really on the way up if that's how the Logan Cup is going to be.