Taylor's 166 leads Mashonaland's charge

Mashonaland 277 and 343 for 3 (Taylor 166, Rogers 97) lead Midlands 194 (Ervine 55, Chinyoka 49, Hondo 4-25) by 426 runs
Scorecard

Mashonaland, leading Midlands by 83 runs on the first innings at Kwekwe, moved into a seemingly impregnable position in the second innings, as they often tend to do, thanks to a career-best score of 166 from their opener Brendan Taylor. At the end of the day Mashonaland had a lead of 426 with two full days to come and the weather apparently set fair.

Midlands resumed at 82 for 4, but a gradual slide set in and they subsided to 194 all out on the stroke of lunch. The only batsmen to put up much resistance were Craig Ervine, the younger brother of Sean, with 54 and Innocent Chinyoka, who made 49. Douglas Hondo bowled most impressively, taking 4 for 25 in 16 overs, while the legspinner Graeme Cremer took 3 for 52.

Then came the familiar Mashonaland second-innings onslaught. Taylor, aggressive from the start, shared an opening stand of 75 with Bernard Mlambo (30), and then piled on 191 with Barney Rogers, who was in superb form. Rogers was unlucky to miss his century, hitting 15 fours and a six, and had reached 97 when he swept at Prosper Utseya, only for the ball to run off his forearm and onto his wicket. Taylor, who slammed 22 fours and five sixes, fell to a return catch just before the close.