DURBAN Qalandars are the inaugural Zim Cyber City Zim-Afro T10 Champions after they beat Joburg Buffaloes by eight wickets in a thrilling final at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
Afghan all-rounder Hazratullah Zazai put up a man of the match performance after he struck a brisk 43 runs from 22 balls to help Qalanders chase the 128 run target with four balls to spare.
There were also valuable contributions with the bat from New Zealander Tim Seifert who scored 30 runs from 14 balls while Ndare Fletcher recorded 29 from 11 balls and Asif Ali managed 21 from 9 balls.
Captained by Zimbabwe national team captain Craig Ervine, Qalanders won the toss and elected to field first and Buffaloes managed to put 127 runs for the loss of four wickets on the board, Tom Banton the top scorer with 36 runs while Mahammed Hafeez struck a quick 32 runs from just 13 balls.
Azmatullah Omerzai was the pick of the bowlers for Qalanders finishing with figures of 1 for 8 while George Linde took one wicket for 22.
Qalanders’ chase got off to a flying start with openers Zazai and Seifert mamasing 33 runs in 2.5 overs before the latter fell to Usman Shinwari.
The champions would lose one more wicket, that of Fletcher who fell with the score on 76 to Shinwari before Zazai and Ali completed the chase.
Other Zimbabweans in the Qalandars squad include Brad Evans who had a brilliant tournament with the ball as well as Tendai Chatara, Clive Madande and Nick Welch.
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