Zimbabwe defended their second-lowest T20I total ever as they stopped Ireland from chasing down 117, and won the match by mere 3 runs at Castle Avenue, Clontarf. Before this game, they had defended 11o against West Indies in 2010. They are now leading the five-match series 1-0.
The bowlers, 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, turned out to be their real hero. He not only conceded just 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 Zimbabwean spinners began exploiting the huge size of the ground with their flight and getting the Irish players caught in the deep as pressure was mounting. 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.