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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter

ALLIANCE Health Eagles staged a remarkable comeback from the dead, like the proverbial phoenix, to lift the 2022 Domestic Twenty20 cricket title at the Harare Sports Club on Saturday.

The Harare-based franchise upstaged favourites Mountaineers by two wickets in a low-scoring final.

Mountaineers had stormed into the finals without losing a match after claiming straight victories in the four round-robin matches leading to the decider.

And on Saturday they won the toss and elected to bat first. Their game plan however went horribly wrong after they suffered a batting malfunction and were restricted to 105 runs in their 20 overs.

Eagles started the tournament dismally after losing their opening two games during the round-robin matches, recovered well to perform a smash and grab with three wins in succession.

Despite a not so perfect batting display on Saturday, they still managed to reach 107 for the loss of eight wickets and with six balls remaining.

Eagles coach, Stuart Matsikenyeri, said the triumph was crucial atonement for their failure in the Logan Cup and the Pro50 Championship.

“It’s brilliant to have finished top in this competition. It was our last opportunity to get a trophy this season and we did just that. We are very happy about this.

“After the slow start, we took a hard look at ourselves and confronted a few issues that were costing us matches.

“We always felt once we executed our plans we would be difficult to beat.

“The character showed by the squad to come back from terrible start in the campaign, great leadership from Chamu Chibhabha on the field, felt he controlled the field really well,” said Matsikeyeri.

Mountaineers begun the final in the worst possible manner after losing opener PJ Moor for a duck with only five balls bowled in the first over.

Things then started going out of hand when fellow opener Kevin Kasuza departed for 17 runs to leave the scores on 32/2.

Apart from tail-ender Tendai Chatara, who was the team’s top scorer with 19 runs, and opener Kasuza, the rest of the batting lineup departed for single digit scores.

A chance for a smash and grab was realistic for Eagles at the half way stage despite the odds having started against them.

After restricting their opponents to a decent target Wessley Madhevere’s 32 and a 29 from fellow former Zimbabwe Under-19 batter Matthew Welch ensured a thrilling finish.

The Matsikenyeri-coached sided had stormed into the final with two wins and as many defeats in the round robin matches.

After losing their opening two matches against Mountaineers and Tuskers, they staged a remarkable turnaround in the final two assignments. A 48-run victory over Rhinos via the Duckworth Lewis Method brought them back in contention.

And then Tinashe Kamunhukamwe’s dazzling innings of 77 runs off just 53 balls propelled them to a seven-wicket victory over Rocks on Tuesday and sealed a place in the Domestic Twenty20 Competition final.

They were tied on 20 points with third placed Rhinos, but they pulled through courtesy of a slim net run rate difference.

Domestic Twenty20 Competition Final result

Alliance Health Eagles beat Mountaineers by two wickets:

Mountaineers 105 in 20 overs (Tendai Chatara 19, Kevin Kasuza 17; Richard Ngarava 2-13, Brad Evans 2-14, Tapiwa Mufudza 1-22)

Alliance Health Eagles 107/8 in 20 overs (Wessley Madhevere 32, Matthew Welch 29, Kudzai Maunze 16; Victor Nyauchi 3-24, Shingi Masakadza 2-15, Wellington Masakadza 2-19)