Still reeling from unexpected defeat by Mashonaland in last week's four-day Logan Cup game, Manicaland have a week off from cricket as all games have been postponed for the Presidential elections. Their next game will be the league cup final against Old Georgians on Sunday 17 March. Confidence will be low considering the manner of defeat - asking Mashonaland to follow on 287 runs behind and losing by 73 - but their one-day form has been good this season and home-ground advantage should help.

Things that can be righted should be fixed without delay. The fielding was disastrous and in the absence of a full-time coach the captain should be assuming responsibility and burning flesh. The body language of the Manica fielders going into the fourth day was dangerously complacent - as though the game was almost won. Senior pro Whittall could be heard exhorting and criticizing as Mashonaland's lead grew bigger and the misfields more frequent. Having scored 247 in Manicaland's first innings and taken eight for 118 off 47 overs during a long hot match, his frustration was easy to understand. Not enough Manicaland players were prepared to die for the cause - a fact sensed by Evans, Campbell and Mackay (who batted low in the order) and exploited with relish as 340 runs were plundered between them, turning survival into advantage.

Needing 219 off 46 overs for victory, Manicaland plunged to 146 all out in an absorbing finish with Coulson and Lewis unable to last the final three overs to safety.

Whittall aside, positives included the batting of 16-year-old Tino Mawoyo (averaging 35 in the game), Neil Ferreira (averaging 55), Richie Sims' first-innings 75 and the assured first-innings 34 from 17-year-old Adeil Kugotsi. Manicaland caved from number five downward with Went, Taylor, Lewis, Coulson and both Somas collectively averaging 4.4 per innings. Lewis, with two for 119 off 30 overs, was disappointing considering his early-season form, whilst Leon Soma with six for 117 off 37.2 overs provided the only verifiable support for Whittall's lone heroics. The team in general looked ill at ease in the longer form of the game.

For a game of such quality containing two personal-best double centuries (Whittall 247, Craig Evans 210), fluctuating fortunes and a tense finish, surprisingly few spectators attended. Evans - who carried on to destroy Manicaland with 16-5-37-6 - was everyone's man of the match.

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