Eagles defend Women’s T20 Cup title

BY DANIEL NHAKANISO ALLIANCE Health Eagles Women successfully defended their Women’s T20 Cup title after beating Mountaineers by seven wickets in the final played at Harare Sports Club On Thursday. It was Eagles’ second successive title in the competition after winning the inaugural edition of the competition in December 2020. After dismantling their opponents by nine wickets in the last round of group matches at Old Hararians Sports Club less than 24 hours earlier, Eagles the overwhelming favourites heading into the final. However, the final was not as one-sided as the previous encounter where Mountaineers were rolled out for 14 runs with Esther Mbofana finishing remarkable bowling figures of seven wickets for just one run. This time around Mountaineers put up a better batting display, reaching 110 for three in their aloted 20 overs after Eagles had won the toss and sent them to bat. Loryn Phiri top-scored for Mountaineers with 41 runs off 60 deliveries while Pelagia Mujaji was unbeaten won 34 from 30 deliveries. While Mountaineers’ batting effort was much better than their collapse on Wednesday, their very modest total of 110 runs was never going to trouble a formidable Health Alliance Eagles batting department. That was proved right when Eagles reached 11 for three in 18,3 overs. In fact the margin of victory could have been much bigger Eagles for the Harare-based side as they lost two wickets off successive deliveries at the start of the 17th over with victory in sight. Player of the Match Kellies Ndlovu scored an unbeaten 46 runs from 44 balls which included five fours while 13-year-old Beloved Biza was unbeaten on 30 runs. The match winning innings capped off a very successful tournament for 16-year-old Kellies, who finished as the leading run scorer in the competition with 197 runs from seven matches at an impressive average of 49,25. Eagles also topped the bowlers’ charts with 17 year-old right arm medium bowler Mitchell Mavhunga with 15 wickets from seven matches while her teammate Mbofana was second on 11 wickets, which included her seven wicket haul on Wednesday.