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Zimbabwe 117 for 7 (Chakabva 47, Young 2-15, Simi 2-22) beat Ireland 114 for 9 (Simi 28*, Burl 3-22, Masakadza 2-18) by three runs
RICHARD Ngarava defended five off the last over to give Zimbabwe a tense three-run win in the series opener against Ireland.
Zimbabwe have only defended one total lower than their 117 in Dublin yesterday; 105 against West Indies in February 2010.
The win was also Craig Ervine’s first as T20 captain.
After a batting performance riddled with problems, with only Regis Chakabva scoring more than 20, Zimbabwe’s spinners Wellington Masakadza and Ryan Burl shared five wickets between them, and conceded just 40 runs, to keep Zimbabwe in the contest.
Luke Jongwe took 2 for 17 to reduce Ireland to 88 for 7, leaving the eighth-wicket pair of Simi Singh and Barry McCarthy to finish the job.
Ireland needed 18 runs off the last three overs, 12 off the last two and six off the final over, but Ngarava held his nerve at the end.
His first ball was a yorker that Singh could not dig out, his second was quicker and Singh missed and his third was flicked away for one.
With five needed off the last three, McCarthy walked across his stumps to try and ramp the ball over short fine leg, but was bowled.
Craig Young was run-out at the non-striker’s end off the penultimate ball before the last delivery, a low full-toss, cost just one run to give Zimbabwe victory.
Zimbabwe’s openers had a dismal start to the series and were both dismissed in the first 17 balls, playing lazy shots against a fired-up Craig Young.
Wessley Madhevere was unable to build on his form from earlier in the year and the first to go, jabbing at the last ball of the opening opener, to give debutant Neil Rock his first (and what may end up being one of his easiest) catch in international cricket.
After he had a scored a single in the first over, Tadiwanashe Marumani looked like a sitting duck as he negotiated the second over from Barry McCarthy.
He inside-edged the first ball, missed the next three and then finally found some defence to face a maiden.
The pressure got to him and Marumani tried to get a move on when he danced down the track in an attempt to heave
Young over the leg side, but the quick saw him coming, dragged the length back and had him caught at slip. Young’s opening spell yielded 2 for 5.
After the opening blunders, Regis Chakabva helped Zimbabwe recover, sharing the best partnerships of the innings of 38 with Dion Myers, and 30 with Craig Ervine.
He gave Zimbabwe their most profitable over against Curtis Campher, who he pulled through midwicket, pounded through point and tucked down to fine leg for three boundaries in his first four balls.
Campher’s first over in this format cost 16 runs all told. Chakabva’s best shot, however, was the six he hit off Singh, when he went down on one knee to send the spinner over midwicket.
By then, Chakabva made sure Zimbabwe had a stable foundation at 79 for 4 in 12 over.
But he didn’t read Singh’s wrong ‘un, in the 13th over, and was bowled. He would have been disappointed to fall one short of equalling his score in the format and three shy of a first T20I fifty. – ESPNcricinfo
Online Reporter