Mashonaland made steady progress towards victory on the third day of their match against Manicaland at Mutare Sports Club. They dismissed the home province for 352, giving themselves a lead of 288 on first innings, and then took three wickets for 113 runs by the close as Manicaland followed on.

The pitch remained excellent for batting and the bowlers had to work hard for success; it often seemed that the only way to take a wicket was for the batsmen to get themselves out – which some of them did obligingly. Stuart Matsikenyeri reached his highest score of 80 for Manicaland, while Andre Soma scored a valuable 46.

Brian Murphy returned the best figures for Mashonaland, with four wickets for 127 off 44 overs, a workload that suggests he is now quite sound physically. Trevor Gripper took three cheaper wickets, bowling with accuracy but looking so apparently innocuous that the batsman thinks it an insult to his manhood if he does not hit him out of the park – and is thus lured to his downfall.

Murphy enforced the follow-on as Manicaland were dismissed in midafternoon, and the home side suffered their most serious blow when their batting bulwark Neil Ferreira fell for only seven runs. Richie Sims (1) fell shortly afterwards in unusual fashion: he was batting out of his crease to paceman Gus Mackay, with wicket-keeper Tatenda Taibu standing about eight yards back but alert. When Sims missed the ball, Taibu threw the ball at the stumps to effect a stumping.

Henry Olonga, not out with 10 in the first innings, had decided to keep his pads on and open in the second innings. It did him good, for he compiled 36 before becoming the final wicket of the day to fall. Alistair Campbell was still there with 46 and looking very good, although the cynics will say that means nothing.

Manicaland are still 175 runs behind Mashonaland with seven wickets left, and with Ferreira back in the pavilion their chances of avoiding defeat seem remote, unless the weather changes. With a blustery wind during the third day, that might just happen. But Mutare's new large covers seem at present to be keeping the rain away.

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