BRIAN Bennett and Amir Hotak helped Cape Town Sampy Army flip the form chart and storm into the finals of the second edition of the Zim Afro T10 as they beat favourites, Harare Bolts by nine wickets in the Qualifier 2 at Harare Sports Club on Saturday.
Spinner Hotak was too hot handle returning figures of three wickets for nine runs in his allotted two overs.
Hotak was backed by some incredible fielding in the deep with the fielding side taking some stunning catches.
Hotak first removed Sabbir Rahman two balls in, trapped leg before wicket plumb in front for a duck.
Lahiru Milantha did not last too long as was taken by Qais Ahmed for five runs to leave Harare Bolts looking for answers on how to counter the Samp Army spin threat.
It was left to Harare Bolts captain Dasun Shanaka to try and dig out his team from an unfamiliar hole that they were in.
Unfortunately, he failed to find his usual fluence and tried to dance down the wicket to an Ahmed flighted delivery and was well beaten presenting wicketkeeper Leonardo Julien with an easy stumping opportunity.
With the centurion of the 2024 edition George Munsey, Harare Bolts fans who had painted Harare Sports Club yellow, felt they still had a chance to post something defendable.
But Samp Army who had peaked at the right time were having none of it, Munsey was dismissed by captain Rohan Mustafa for 17 runs from 11 balls, with the score at 29-4 after 4.1 overs.
Shehan Jayasuriya’s 39 from 19 balls gave Bolts something to bowl at but in T10 a score of 98 on a good batting, Bolts were always behind the eighth ball.
Zimbabwe’s batting prodigy, Bennett who had failed in the Eliminator match, showed his class as he scored 46 from 18 balls.
Jack Taylor continued from where Bennett left with 29 from 13 balls, to eliminate Bolts who were the favourites to book a rematch with Joburg Bangla Tigers in the final.
