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BELFAST. – Zimbabwe crumbled on the opening day in Belfast against Ireland in the one-off Test despite making a very good start to their innings.
Zimbabwe’s openers delivered after being asked to bat first and showed no signs of red-ball rustiness but the home team crawled back to bowl them out for just 210.
Zimbabwe lost their final eight wickets for the addition of just 67 runs before rain arrived again.
Ireland’s reply never got underway as rain arrived to force stumps early.
Joylord Gumbie raced to 26 off 31 at the start but at least three boundaries were fetched in streaky fashion.
Prince Masvaure, who was patient to begin with, drove Craig Young for his first boundary and slowly grew in confidence.
The bowling changes didn’t work as the openers managed to bat out the opening session for 85 runs.
Masvaure then kickstarted the post-lunch session with a boundary but Ireland finally struck when Gumbie hit one straight to square leg.
After a short rain burst, play did resume as Masvaure helped himself to a half-century.
Just when it looked like another huge partnership could bloom to frustrate Ireland, Barry McCarthy struck again with a lovely delivery to hit the top of off stump that saw Dion Myers depart for just 10.
That was the opening Ireland needed as they slowly managed to gain control.
Craig Ervine top-edged a shot to give Craig Young his first wicket whereas Curtis Campher got the big wicket of the well-settled Masvaure who edged down the leg in unfortunate fashion
Sean Williams tried to break the shackles with a flurry of boundaries but Andy McBrine’s double-wicket over put Zimbabwe under severe pressure.
In the following over, it was Mark Adair’s turn to open his account before the tail eventually gave up. From a strong 143/2 at one stage,
Brief scores: Zimbabwe 210 (Prince Masvaure 74, Joylord Gumbie 49; Andy McBrine 3/37, Barry McCarthy 3/42) – Cricbuzz
Online Reporter