Sports / Local
Chevrons beat Ireland to earn Super League points
09 Sep 2021 at 11:21hrs | Views
ZIMBABWE 266 for 7 (Ervine 64, Raza 59*, Singh 1-22) beat Ireland 228 (Porterfield 75, Tector 50, Muzarabani 4-29) by 38 runs Blessing Muzarabani grabbed four wickets, as Zimbabwe gained ten crucial Su-per League points after beating hosts Ireland by 38 runs in the first of a three-match ODI series in Belfast yesterday.
Zimbabwe also claimed their first outright ODI win in their last 15 matches dating back to April 2019. The win lifted Zimbabwe, who anchored the standings in the race for automatic qualification to the 2023 ICC World Cup, one place up the ladder on 20 points. Half-centuries from Craig Ervine (64) and Sikandar Raza (59) took them to a competitive total of 266, and required Ireland to pull off their highest successful chase against them before a strangling bowling effort sealed Zimbabwe's win.
Blessing Muzarabani, Wellington Masakadza and Sean Williams took seven wickets for 41 runs in the last 10 overs, as Ireland went from a challenging but doable position of needing 81 runs in the last 12 overs to falling 38 short.
Muzarabani, who used the short ball to good effect, was the pick of the bowlers with his third haul of four wickets or more in his 25-match ODI career. But it was Sikandar Raza, who scored a brisk 59 runs from 44 balls, who won the man of the match accolade.
"I thought the foundation was set by Craig, Sean and Brendan. Brendan batted with some grit, and later it was my turn to get some runs. It was better to bat then but certainly hard at the top. I wanted to run hard between the wickets and find the boundary here and there," Raa said after the match. Captain Ervine was full of praise for the team.
"The first 10-15 overs were difficult to get through for batters. Brendan did the hard work and fell but the foundation was set pretty well. At the beginning we thought 250 would be a really good score, the wicket did get slightly better in the afternoon. The bowlers stuck to their plans really well. The spinners were creating a lot of dots when I batted (so we used spinners too)," he said.
Ireland won the toss and field first Zimbabwe chose the experienced pair of Brendon Taylor and Regis Chakabva to open the batting but the partnership lasted 14 runs Taylor and Ervine's second wicket partnership of 71 provided a solid foundation for a competitive total. A useful 40 run partner-ship from 19 balls at the end between Sikandar Raza and Luke Jongwe ensured Zimbabwe gave the bowlers something to defend.
The second match of the series is scheduled for Friday.
Zimbabwe also claimed their first outright ODI win in their last 15 matches dating back to April 2019. The win lifted Zimbabwe, who anchored the standings in the race for automatic qualification to the 2023 ICC World Cup, one place up the ladder on 20 points. Half-centuries from Craig Ervine (64) and Sikandar Raza (59) took them to a competitive total of 266, and required Ireland to pull off their highest successful chase against them before a strangling bowling effort sealed Zimbabwe's win.
Blessing Muzarabani, Wellington Masakadza and Sean Williams took seven wickets for 41 runs in the last 10 overs, as Ireland went from a challenging but doable position of needing 81 runs in the last 12 overs to falling 38 short.
Muzarabani, who used the short ball to good effect, was the pick of the bowlers with his third haul of four wickets or more in his 25-match ODI career. But it was Sikandar Raza, who scored a brisk 59 runs from 44 balls, who won the man of the match accolade.
"The first 10-15 overs were difficult to get through for batters. Brendan did the hard work and fell but the foundation was set pretty well. At the beginning we thought 250 would be a really good score, the wicket did get slightly better in the afternoon. The bowlers stuck to their plans really well. The spinners were creating a lot of dots when I batted (so we used spinners too)," he said.
Ireland won the toss and field first Zimbabwe chose the experienced pair of Brendon Taylor and Regis Chakabva to open the batting but the partnership lasted 14 runs Taylor and Ervine's second wicket partnership of 71 provided a solid foundation for a competitive total. A useful 40 run partner-ship from 19 balls at the end between Sikandar Raza and Luke Jongwe ensured Zimbabwe gave the bowlers something to defend.
The second match of the series is scheduled for Friday.
Source - espncricinfo
