Online Reporter
Tinashe Kusema
Zimpapers Sports Hub
IRELAND put Zimbabwe to the sword in the second One Day International, with the visitors cruising to a comfortable six-wicket victory at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
The Chevrons, hoping to seal the three-match series, simply didn’t show up with both bat and ball as they were bundled out for a meagre 245 runs.
After skipper Craig Ervine lost the toss for the second game in a row, Zimbabwe were put in to bat and could only put 245 runs on the board before being bowled out in the 49th over.
There were early morning threats of rain, and this possibly factored into Ireland skipper Paul Stirling’s decision.
In the end, that became a none factor as the skies held out, all the while Zimbabwe crumbled.
With the exception of maybe Wesley Madhevere and Sikandar Raza’s half-century, there was little to write about as five of Zimbabwe’s batters failed to reach double figures in the hosts’ life less performance.
The pair of Madhevere and Raza held Zimbabwe’s innings together as the two put up 74 runs off 99 balls for the fourth-wicket partnership.
Madhevere would go on to top-score for Zimbabwe with 61 runs off 70 balls, while Raza finished with 58 runs off 75 balls.
Openers Brian Bennett and Ben Curran failed to replicate their performance from the opening ODI as they could muster 34 runs off 42 balls for the first wicket.
Bennett did, however, have a promising cameo at the top of the innings but failed to build onto his 30 runs before he edged a Mark Adair delivery to Stirling at slip.
Wickets fell at regular intervals with Zimbabwe, at one point, in a spot of bother at 157 runs for seven in the 34th over.
At that point, 200 runs looked improbable with a 50-run off 50 balls partnership between Raza and Wellington Masakadza helping bring some respectability to Zimbabwe’s score.
Masakadza also had his own short but valuable cameo on his way to 35 runs from as many balls before he was bowled out by Graham Hume.
Adair finished as the pick of the Ireland bowlers, picking up four wickets for 54 runs, while Man of the Match Curtis Campher chipped in with three scalps for 13 runs.
With a target of 246 runs, Ireland cruised comfortably to victory, led by Stirling’s half-century.
The skipper finished 11 runs shy of what would have a well-deserved century.
His 89 runs off 102 balls also featured what turned out to be a match-winning second-wicket stand with Campher.
The pair piled on 144 runs off 177 balls, with Campher finishing with 63 runs off 94 balls.
Zimbabwe’s bowlers struggled too, with only Trevor Gwandu, Blessing Muzarabani, and Richard Ngarava making some sort of breakthrough.
Gwandu claimed two wickets for 50 runs while Muzarabani and Ngarava chipped in with a wicket each. Ervine, clearly disappointed, believes Zimbabwe finished their innings some 35 runs short of what could have been a winning score.
“Certainly, I thought 280 would have been a pretty good score,” said Ervine.
“Would have been nice to win the toss, but anyway. “We were going. We were at one stage, I think around that 30-over mark, but losing three wickets in quick succession cost us.
“Credit to Ireland, I thought they stuck to their guns.
“Curtis (Campher) bowled extremely well in that middle period, which obviously pegged us back quite a bit.
“Stirling and Curtis again batted really well, and it wasn’t really a great wicket to bat on.
“We probably gave away a few too many extras to that little period,” he said.
His opposite number, Stirling, cut the figure of a relieved man.
“I think we were better, to be honest.
“Sikandar (Raza) and Wesley (Madhevere) batted really well in the middle, and I think that’s when we were the most under pressure, and to come through that, Curtis (Campher) really turned the game on its head.
“I think, at the halfway, we were looking at about 270-280 plus, and that would have been tough out there,” he said.
The two teams meet again tomorrow for the third and final One Day International, which has now been turned into a decider.
The match will again be played at Harare Sports Club.
