At Old Hararians Sports Club. UNIVERSALS 96 (45.2 overs) (B I Robinson 22, H J Hira 29; B C Strang 2/14, E A Brandes 2/30, P A Strang 3/13). OLD HARARIANS 99/7 (28.3 overs) (E Z Matambanadzo 2/39, D T Mutendera 3/30). Old Hararians won by three wickets.

Poor batting rather than any other factor was responsible for the low Universals total, as too many of the players went for the big hits without proper discrimination. Everton Matambanadzo and David Mutendera bowled superbly, though, to bring Universals back into the game, working up a good pace and reducing Old Hararians to 68 for six at one stage. A fighting innings of 17 not out by Bryan Strang, who showed much more discrimination in choosing the right ball to slog, took the champions home safely in the end, with help from Brian Goodwin (11 not out), elder brother of Murray.

At Old Georgians. HARARE SPORTS CLUB 105 (42.4 overs) (J Jameson 33*; A J Mackay 3/23, D J Rowett 2/21, A Mwayenga 2/13). OLD GEORGIANS 107/5 (26 overs) (N C Johnson 45, G W Flower 24; P George 2/29, D J Peacock 3/36). Old Georgians won by five wickets.

Good bowling and poor batting accounted for Harare Sports Club, who were brought down after their fine victory the previous weekend. Apart from John Jameson, only Trevor Gripper (18) reached double figures. Old Georgians, who still lack depth, were given a good start by their international opening pair of Neil Johnson and Grant Flower, but after that struggled to reach their target. In the end some powerful blows from captain Gus Mackay (13 not out) saw them home.

At Alexandra Sports Club. ALEXANDRA 122 (24 overs) (A Manoussis 46; M Mbangwa 3/22, J A Rennie 2/34, H K Olonga 4/24 including hat-trick). QUEENS 124/4 (37.1 overs) (R J King 28, J R Craig 36). Queens won by four wickets.

Queens put up a much more impressive bowling display this week, with only Gavin Rennie (14) of the top six batsmen able to reach double figures. The innings was only saved from complete wreckage by the determination of Tassi Manoussis, assisted by the more defensive Andrew Gilmour (16 not out). Henry Olonga, bowling fast and straight, performed the hat-trick by dismissing the last three batsmen with successive balls, two bowled with an lbw in between. Queens moved steadily to their target without any fireworks.

At Harare Sports Club. MACDONALD CLUB 171 (48.5 overs) (B Jacobs 62, M D Abrams 23; M G Burmester 2/12, A Taylor 3/33, D Yatras 3/41). MANICALAND 134 (G J Whittall 35; G Wren 2/16, M Bryant 3/35, S Commerford 3/29). Macdonald Club won by 37 runs.

Macdonald Club won their first match in the national league top division with a victory over Manicaland on neutral ground, due to the difficulty of arranging suitable transport between Bulawayo and Mutare. The pitch was a greentop, with the ball moving about a great deal, but it did Manicaland no good to put their opponents in to bat. Jacobs batted well to hold his teamâs innings together, when seam bowlers were so favoured that Andrew Whittall, now playing for Mac Club, later bowled seamers rather than his usual off-spin. Mark Burmester bowled a particularly impressive opening spell, 10 overs for 12 runs and the only boundary he conceded came from a missed catch in the slips. Apart from Guy Whittall, Manicaland found nobody capable of building an innings, and subsided rather ignominiously.