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Lawrence Moyo
Head Zimpapers Sports
IRELAND completed a double over Zimbabwe after a comprehensive seven-wicket victory with 13 balls remaining, under DLS method, in the third and final one-day international cricket match at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
Following morning rain during Zimbabwe’s innings, the match was reduced to 40 overs aside with the Chevrons all out for 197 in 40 overs while, following a DLS adjustment, Ireland needed 201 to win and they made 204/3 in 37.5 overs.
It earned Ireland a 2-0 series win, which could easily have been a whitewash had it not been for rain on Wednesday, to add to the 2-1 series win in T20 international series last week.
Just like in the T20I series last week, this was Ireland’s FIRST series win over Zimbabwe in one-day cricket in what has been a miserable year for the Chevrons.
They failed to reach the 50-over ICC World Cup in India after a home defeat to Associate member Scotland in a qualifier at home and then missed out on an ICC T20I Men’s World Cup finals ticket after losing to lowly Namibia and Uganda in qualifiers late last month.
In between, Zimbabwe had suffered a humiliating T20I series loss against Namibia.
At the end of the match stand-in captain Sikandar Raza felt they lost due to a low score by the batsmen.
He however, believes the series loss was due to injuries to some senior players, who could have had a positive influence in the matches.
“I thought we were 20-25 runs short on that wicket. We keep doing the same things again and again that’s hurting Zimbabwe cricket. It’s our job as batters to bat most of the over, and we didn’t do again that today. I thought myself and Joylord (Gumbie) had a very good partnership.
“My dismissal came at the wrong time. Unfortunately, when I got out, the floodgates opened, and we never got any partnerships after that. Credit to Ireland for showing us how to play on tricky wickets like that, sometimes we need to graft.
“It didn’t help that we had 8 to 9 guys injured, and some of those are senior players as well. But opportunities present themselves, I just hope the guys can grab those. All I’m praying for is for those 8 to 9 guys to be fit because we’re going to need the best squad to go to Sri Lanka,” said Raza.
Online Reporter