Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter

A LAST ball four by Clive Madande in just his second One Day International (ODI) is all it took for Zimbabwe to win a nail-biting first match of the three-match cricket series against Ireland by three wickets (D/L Method) at Harare Sports Club yesterday.

In an encounter almost ruined by the rains saw the Chevrons chase down a revised target of 214 (37 overs) with the last ball of the match. Zimbabwe finished on 214-7 while Ireland scored 288-4 in 50 overs courtesy of two centuries from Andrew Balbirnie and Harry Tector.

The hero of the match, Madande who came in to bat at number seven had to hold his nerves as he saw Zimbabwe through with a last-ball boundary having lost Ryan Burl who looked in form throughout.
Zimbabwe scored 28 runs in the last two overs to win the match.

Burl was run out for a magnificent 59 runs off 41 deliveries after falling short by a few centimetres in attempting to take two runs, leaving Zimbabwe in all sorts of trouble. A first-ball six by Bradley Evans gave the home side hope again before he fell in the second ball and was replaced by Wellington Masakadza who took a single that gave Madande strike to face the last delivery.

Madande finished on an unbeaten 12 runs off nine deliveries to see Zimbabwe through. Some of the brilliant batting performances for Zimbabwe came from Sikandar Raza who scored 43 runs off 45 balls. Gary Ballance, in his first ODI appearance for Zimbabwe scored 23 runs.
For Ireland, Balbirnie with 121 runs (retired hurt) and Tector’s unbeaten 101 runs took them to a competitive total. Victor Nyauchi took two wickets for Zimbabwe while the other two that fell were taken by Richard Ngarava and Raza.

Mark Adair and Graham Hume took two wickets each for the Irish side while Josh Little, and Tector picked up one each as Zimbabwe fought hard to take the series one nil up.

The next match of the series is scheduled for Saturday while the third and final will be played on Monday 23 January. All matches will be played at Harare Sports Club. @brandonmalvin

Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter

A LAST ball four by Clive Madande in just his second One Day International (ODI) is all it took for Zimbabwe to win a nail-biting first match of the three-match cricket series against Ireland by three wickets (D/L Method) at Harare Sports Club yesterday.

In an encounter almost ruined by the rains saw the Chevrons chase down a revised target of 214 (37 overs) with the last ball of the match. Zimbabwe finished on 214-7 while Ireland scored 288-4 in 50 overs courtesy of two centuries from Andrew Balbirnie and Harry Tector.

The hero of the match, Madande who came in to bat at number seven had to hold his nerves as he saw Zimbabwe through with a last-ball boundary having lost Ryan Burl who looked in form throughout.
Zimbabwe scored 28 runs in the last two overs to win the match.

Burl was run out for a magnificent 59 runs off 41 deliveries after falling short by a few centimetres in attempting to take two runs, leaving Zimbabwe in all sorts of trouble. A first-ball six by Bradley Evans gave the home side hope again before he fell in the second ball and was replaced by Wellington Masakadza who took a single that gave Madande strike to face the last delivery.

Madande finished on an unbeaten 12 runs off nine deliveries to see Zimbabwe through. Some of the brilliant batting performances for Zimbabwe came from Sikandar Raza who scored 43 runs off 45 balls. Gary Ballance, in his first ODI appearance for Zimbabwe scored 23 runs.
For Ireland, Balbirnie with 121 runs (retired hurt) and Tector’s unbeaten 101 runs took them to a competitive total. Victor Nyauchi took two wickets for Zimbabwe while the other two that fell were taken by Richard Ngarava and Raza.

Mark Adair and Graham Hume took two wickets each for the Irish side while Josh Little, and Tector picked up one each as Zimbabwe fought hard to take the series one nil up.

The next match of the series is scheduled for Saturday while the third and final will be played on Monday 23 January. All matches will be played at Harare Sports Club. @brandonmalvin