Zimbabwe tour of Ireland 2021 News

Kevin O’Brien repaid captain Andrew Balbirnie’s and Irish team management’s faith in him as he struck a 41 ball 60 to guide his team to a seven-wicket win against Zimbabwe in the second T20I at Castle Avenue, Clontarf. With this win, the Irish team levelled the five-match series 1-1 having lost the match by three runs in a closely fought low scoring contest. Chasing a competitive total of 153, Ireland got off to a fantastic start, crossing the fifty run mark in the powerplay without losing any wicket. Paul Stirling played as he does, getting to 37 off just 29 balls with the help of five fours and two sixes before being caught by Regis Chakabva behind the wickets off Ryan Burl’s leg-spin. Balbairnie followed suit. O’Brien who was waiting in the wings at the time of the Stirling show slowly started picking pace and in no time he Ireland were looking at victory as the 39-year-old reached his fourth fifty playing his 101st T20I. By the time he got out on 60, the Irish scorecard read 129-3 with only 24 runs required off 26 balls. George Dockrell was up to the task and finished the game by hitting three fours on the first three balls of the 19th over bowled by last match hero Richard Ngarava. Earlier in the day, thanks to the highest sixth-wicket t20I partnership for Zimbabwe by Milton Shumba and Ryan Burl, the Chevrons reached a competitive total of 152, even as they were 64-5 in the first 10 overs. O’Brien was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant innings. With the series level at 1-1, the two teams now move to Bready in Northern Ireland where they would play the remaining three matches of the five-match series with the third one taking place on Wednesday, September 01.

Playing against Ireland, Zimbabwe number six and seven, Ryan burl and Milton Shumba recorded the fifth-highest sixth-wicket partnership in the history of T20i cricket. The pair threaded together unbeaten 88 runs to guide a struggling Zimbabwean innings from 64-5 at the end of the 10th over to 152-5 in 20 overs against Ireland at Castle Avenue, Clontarf during the second T20I of the five-match series. This is also the third-highest sixth-wicket partnership by a Test-playing nation in T20I with the record being held by Australia’s Cameron White and Michale Hussey who added 101 unbeaten against Sri Lanka in 2010 during the T20 World Cup match in Bridgetown, Barbados. As far as Zimbabwe are concerned, this is their fifth-highest partnership for any wicket in T20I cricket with the highest being 111 by current skipper Craig Ervine and former skipper Sean Williams created in 2019 against Ireland in Bready. Shumba, who is playing only his sixth T20I also achieved his highest individual score of 46 runs which he hit off just 27 balls courtesy of some innovative shots which included a reverse pull shot, yes you read it right, a reverse pull shot over third-man to get not one but two fours. The 20-year-old hist four fours and two sixes to gather his runs which came at a strike rate of more than 170. Burl, Shumba’s partner started slowly, but eventually picked up pace as he smashed 37 off 33 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes. Zimbabwe are leading the five-match series 1-0 courtesy of a three-run win in a thrilling last-over finish in the first match on Friday, August 27.

Zimbabwe defended their second-lowest T20I total ever as they stopped Ireland from chasing down 117, eventually winning the match by 03 runs at Castle Avenue, Clontarf to lead the five-match series 1-0. Prior to the 117 today, they had defended 110 against West Indies in 2010. In today’s match, the bowlers turned out to be the real hero, especially Richard Ngarava who bowled a magical 20th over, giving away only two runs when six were required for a win and five for a tie. He not only conceded two runs but also kept the dangerman, Simi Singh, off the strike. Simi Singh, before that over had hit 26 off just 18 balls. In the last over, Singh could only hit two of the four deliveries that he faced, including a single off the last ball when at least four was required to tie the game. The end might not have been ideal for Ireland, but the start to chase was surely one. With Paul Stirling and Kevin O’Brien getting in the groove, it seemed like an easy chase for the Irish as they raced away to 27 without a loss. However, once Stirling was removed by Jongwe, things started to change as soon skipper Andrew Balbirnie was removed as well. Getting into a rhythm, the Zimbabwe spin bowlers began exploiting the huge size of the ground with their flight and getting the Irish players caught in the deep and pressure mounting ever so more. Within the space of 44 balls and 44 runs, the Men in Green lost six key wickets and the Chevrons were all over them. Wellington Masakadza and Ryan Burl took five of those six wickets. It then took a brilliant inning from Simi Singh to get the team back in the mix and almost set them as favourites to win at the end of the 18th over with only 12 runs required from the last two. However, first Luke Jongwe and then Ngrava made sure that the firm favourites were shocked, Jonge gave only six runs in the 19th over to keep Zimbabwe in the game and then Ngarava took them home. Earlier in the morning, after losing the toss and being invited to bat first, Zimbabwe, who were playing without their superstars such as Sean Williams, Brendan Taylor and Sikandar Raza managed to get to 117 courtesy of Regis Chakabva’s 47 and Masakadza’s unbeaten 19 0ff 15 balls.

Zimbabwe Test captain Sean Williams dropped a bomb just ahead of the start of their limited-overs tour against Ireland as he blamed coach Lalchand Rajput for creating mistrust in the Zimbabwean camp, threatening to quit international cricket and warning about the future of the upcoming stars of Chevrons’ cricket. "I can't see a way forward under coach [Lalchand] Rajput. The environment he has created in the team is bad,” the Test skipper was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda. “There is too much talking and backbiting which creates mistrust,” he added. Saying that while he can afford to quit international cricket and walk away and play club cricket elsewhere, Williams was worried about the young Zimabawe cricketers suffering because of the toxic environment. "I am in a position now where I can go. I am not scared and I will not back down from anyone. My major concern is the future of the rest of the players. If they (Zimbabwe Cricket) don't do something now, guys like Wesley [Madhevere] may go too, and that guy is a national treasure," Williams said. It could maybe be an outcome of the rift only between Williams and other senior players and the coach that Zimbabwe in their first match of the five-match T20I series against Ireland decided to bench star players like Williams himself, Sikandar Raza and Brendan Taylor. Willaims was called in the limited-overs squad of the team after missing the entire home series against Bangladesh. The 34-year-old has so far played 136 ODIs, 46 T20Is and 14 Tests for the team from Southern Africa and seems to still have at least 3-4 years of good cricket left in him.

Paul Stirling, the pocket-sized dynamite of a batsman has become the third Ireland player to complete three will play his 300 games for Ireland when he started in the playing xi against Zimbabwe in the first of the five T20Is to be played between the two sides. “It’s been a long journey since debuting in 2008 and if you had asked me back then I never thought I would have had the privilege of playing this many games,” Stirling said in an interview to Belfast Telegraph. It must be noted that this is not his 300th international game, but overall 300 matches while representing Ireland and it includes First-Class matches during the Inter-Continental Cup era and List A matches before Ireland got the full-time ODI status. “I owe a lot to my family and coaches for the time and dedication they have put in throughout my career to date,” added Stirling, who was also the show-stealer in The Hundred Final, bagging the Man of the Match award in the Final against Birmingham phoenix. It was a season that saw his side Southern Brave’s dramatic turnaround after the first two losses to reach the Eliminator and then the Final and win it. Andrew Balbirnie, the captain of Ireland was also excited about the development. “I think he’s really happy with getting that exposure that he absolutely deserves. I’m a big believer that he should be playing in every domestic competition around the world because he’s that good,” he said in another interview. As far as international matches are concerned 31-year-old Stirling lies just behind veteran Kevin O’ Brien in matches played for Ireland. While O’Brien has played 255 games, Stirling with this game in Clontarf will be playing his 216th game for Ireland. Since making his debut in 2008, Stirling has so far represented the Men in Green in 131 ODIs, 82 T20Is and three Tests.

The great captaincy juggle in Zimbabwe cricket continued even as they named Craig Ervine skipper for the team’s Ireland and Scotland tour starting August 27 in Clontarf. The left-hander has become the fifth man since 2020 to lead the team in limited-overs cricket. Prior to him, the team have tried Chamu Chibhabha, Brendan Taylor, Sikandar Raza and Test captain Sean Williams in the same role with little success. Although this would be the first captaincy experience of the 36-year-old in limited-overs cricket, he previously led Zimbabwe in a Test match, against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2020. The southpaw has played 18 Tests, 96 ODIs and 26 T20Is for the Chevrons. However, he missed out on the ODIs, T20Is and lone Test against Bangladesh at home. The Zimbabwe team will play five T20Is and three ODIs against Ireland and the ODIs will be part of the Cricket World Cup Super League, which is also the qualifying tournament for the 2023 ODI World Cup to be hosted by India. With just a single victory from their six games in the league so far, Zimbabwe are placed bottom. Only the top seven tames will qualify directly for the World Cup with India qualifying as a host to make the top eight teams. The rest two would come through a qualifying tournament. From Ireland, the Ervine led side would march south to Scotland and play three T20Is in Edinburgh as well. Zimbabwe squad for Ireland and Scotland tours: Craig Ervine (capt), Ryan Burl, Regis Chakabva, Tendai Chatara, Luke Jongwe, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Wessely Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Tarisai Musakanda, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba, Brendan Taylor, Donald Tiripano, Sean Williams