As expected, Old Georgians Cricket Club are the 2000/2001 Vigne Cup champions after the final round of matches was played last weekend. The match between OGs and Harare Sports Club was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to a waterlogged field at HSC, and the five points earned per side resulted in OGs finishing with 75 points and the title.

The title is just reward for the Groombridge side who have played some outstanding cricket this season, and at times have looked invincible. Much of the credit for the side's success must go to Craig Evans and captain Gus Mackay who have both played inspired cricket.

Alexandra Cricket Club finished in second place, and will be disappointed after sharing the top of the log with OGs for most of the season. But defeat in the penultimate round at the hands of Andy Flower and his Winstonians team virtually put paid to their title aspirations. There was further disappointment on Sunday when they lost their third Vigne Cup match of the season as they went down to Universals at home. With both sides weakened due to Board XI selections, there was little to play for following the cancellation of the OGs match. Nevertheless, Alex batted first and after the early loss of Guy Goosen for 2, the innings picked up momentum with good knocks from Doug Marillier and Brian Bath in the middle order, but suffered a late-order collapse to be all out for 209 in 47.4 overs. Douglas Hondo was the most impressive bowler for Universals, claiming 3/33 and being well supported by leg spinner Hamid Adam who took 3/46.

Universals started their reply well with the innings anchored around an innings of 68 by the evergreen Ali Shah. But despite good starts from several batsmen, wickets fell regularly and another late-order collapse ensured a tense finish. Eventually it was Everton Matambanadzo and Shezar Adams who knocked off the winning runs in the final over, to boost their side to a third place finish on the log. Doug Marillier took three for 42 for the home side.

At Old Hararians the home side and National League champions were subjected to another Andy Flower onslaught as they lost their seventh Vigne Cup match of the season to finish with the wooden spoon. Winstonians batted first and amassed 256 for four off 50 overs, thanks to an unbeaten century from national batting hero Andy Flower, and a fine 90 from Stuart Matsikenyeri who showed once again that he is destined for greater heights on the cricket field. OH stand-in skipper Bryan Strang took three of the four wickets to fall in the innings with Piet Rinke picking up the fourth. Gary Brent was put to the sword by Flower and Matsikenyere, being hammered for 67 runs off his nine overs.

The OH batting, severely depleted by the absence of Trevor Penney and Dirk Viljoen, never looked like coming close to the victory target. Neethan Chouhan and Ryan Butterworth batted well but none of the other batsmen made much impression as they were bundled out for 176 in the final over of the match. For Winstonians Brian Makova, Matsikenyeri and Kulinga took three wickets a piece.

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