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BENONI. — The Zimbabwe Invitation XI finished third in the six-nation Pepsi International Cricket Council Africa Division 3 tournament in Benoni, South Africa.The Invitation XI finished just behind Namibia and winners Kenya ahead of South Africa Invitation XI, Tanzania and Uganda. Malcolm Waller finished top of the tournament’s most valuable player points board with 74.79 points, courtesy of 174 runs with the bat and eight wickets with the ball in the five games played.

Mountaineers seamer Tatenda Mupunga finished second on the wickets list with 10. Although the Zimbabwe Invitation XI lost their last two matches against Uganda and the South Africa Invitation XI, this tournament was a successful one for Zimbabwe Cricket as it was an opportunity for upcoming players to showcase their talent.

Four players, who were with the Invitation XI, will leave for Bangladesh on September 23 to join the Zimbabwe A side for three unofficial One-Day Internationals matches against Bangladesh A.

The four are Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Timycen Maruma, Forster Mutizwa and Malcolm Waller who captained the Zimbabwe Invitation XI. They will join 16 other players already with the A side in Bangladesh for two unofficial Test matches.

The unofficial ODIs are on September 26 and 27 and the third and final one is on October 1.

Results of the last matches  in South Africa:

Fourth match

Zimbabwe Invitation XI – 252 all out (Malcolm Waller 41)
Uganda – 256 for 9 (Malcolm Waller 4-38)
Uganda won by 1 wicket.

Zimbabwe Invitation XI suffered a one-wicket defeat at the hands of Uganda in a match that had to be decided with one ball to spare. Having won the toss, captain Malcolm Waller opted to bat first and Zimbabwe amassed 252 runs in their allotted 50 overs. A few of the batsman got starts but failed to convert, with Waller top-scoring with a quick-fire 41 off just 26 balls. Uganda’s run-chase was characterised by the pendulum swinging from one team to the other, as they kept losing wickets but still kept up with the asking rate only for their tail-enders to win them the game with 40 runs in the last three overs.

Fifth match

South Africa Invitation XI – 236 for 7 in 50 overs (Tatenda Mupunga (4/38)
Zimbabwe Invitation XI 233 all out in 47.4 overs (Stephen Trenchard 90*)
South Africa Invitation XI won by 3 runs. — Zimcricket.