Zimbabwe vs Ireland 2nd ODI review: Craig Ervine’s brilliant century helps Zimbabwe bag the series

Zimbabwe vs Ireland 2nd ODI review: Craig Ervine’s brilliant century helps Zimbabwe bag the series: In an exceptional performance from the middle order batsman Craig Ervine, and thanks to some valuable contributions from Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza, helped Zimbabwe chase down a stiff target of 269 set by Ireland, and helped Zimbabwe bag the series with an ODI to spare. Kevin O’Brien was the best amongst the Ireland bowlers, picking up 2 wickets in his quota of 10 overs.

Earlier, following a thriller of a chase in the first ODI, Zimbabwe again decided to chase a target, as they decided to field first after winning the toss. Ireland captain William Porterfield and Paul Stirling opened the innings, as usual, for the Irish. Following a tight opening couple of overs by Panyangara and Jongwe, the Irish openers were immediately in the backfoot. But a couple of boundaries in the third over eased the tension. But lack of rotation of strike was surmounting pressure on the batsmen, and captain fell to it. Porterfield poked a good length ball to the second slip, thus ending a shaky stay at the crease.

Following Porterfield’s dismissal, Sterling began to loosen up, having adjusted according to the pace of the pitch. While Sterling was reasonably comfortable against the Irish bowlers, experienced Ed Joyce used a wait and proceed approach, again making the same mistake as Porterfield made- not rotating the strike. Spinners Nyumbu and Sikandar Raza extracted reasonable amount of turn from the surface, and Joyce’s lack of application against Raza ended his stay at the wicket, failing to pick up an arm ball off Raza.

Runs began to come easier once Nail O’Brien came into the crease, and some poor bowling did not help the cause for the Zimbabweans. Just when it looked like Stirling and Nail will steer Ireland to a sub-300 score, Ireland lost two wickets in quick succession. While Stirling misread a Raza ball, Balbirnie was run-out due to absolute miscommunication. Wilson joined Nail O’Brien, and things began to settle down once again for the Irish. While both the batsmen punished the poor deliveries without hesitation, their running between the wickets was abysmal, even nearly running each other out in one occasion in the 35^th over. O’Brien was eventually dismissed in the 41^st over, as he chipped a ball near long off after trying to accelerate. But Wilson continued to score at a free rate, and even managed to score above run a ball. But an unfortunate run-out in the 48^th over, ended his stay at the crease. Kevin O’Brien looked out of sorts today, including giving away a maiden over in the 43^rd over of the match.  He was dismissed in the 46^th over, trying to dispatch the bowler over long on. Ireland eventually ended up with 268 on board, an above par score in this pitch, thanks to efforts from Wilson, O’Brien and Sterling.

The Zimbabweans started the chase aggressively, scoring 28 off 4 overs. But things began to slow down once the opening bowlers, Mooney and Murtagh got their lengths right. But disaster struck for Zimbabwe, as they lost their openers in successive overs. Mutumbami, who looked edgy at the crease, ended up edging one to point, whereas in-form Chibhabha was removed by Kevin O’Brien, thanks to a lapse of concentration which ended up him poking a moving ball to the keeper. Following the fall of wickets, experienced Sean Williams and Ervine, who scored a 50 in the first innings, came together in the crease. They counterattacked well, punishing the bad balls and rotated the strike well. That was one of the major highlights of their partnership, their ability to rotate the strike efficiently. The Irish bowlers lacked penetration and the Zimbabweans were slowly running away with the match.

But Williams perished while trying to go after a big one. An excellent 98 run stand came to an end, and Irish sniffed a ray of hope. Williams’ fall of wicket slowed down things for Zimbabwe, who were going nearly at 6 runs per over. Mutombodzi was not as efficient as Williams in rotating strike, and ended up producing a lot of dot balls. Ervine crossed his 50, and he was the key wicket for the Irish if they needed any chance of victory. But post the drinks break, both the batsmen began accelerating the score and reduce the required run rate. And Mutombodzi ended up giving away his wicket while looking for quick runs. But Ervine was still quite composed in the crease. In spite of Naill O’Brien spilling a tough chance, he never lost his composure. Ervine, joined by the hero of the first match, Sikandar Raza, slowly piled on misery on the hapless Irish bowlers, and took the match away from them.

Raza lost his wicket following a failed attempt to slog, but the match was well inside Zimbabwe’s pocket now, and it was a matter of time before they chased it down. And Ervine finished off with style with a boundary, who got a well deserved century as Zimbabwe bagged the series with an ODI to spare.

Craig Ervine was declared man of the match for his unbeaten century. While Ireland had their moments occasionally, it was more due to Zimbabwe’s bad shot making judgment, as they never really looked uncomfortable during the chase. The Irish batsmen were a bit sluggish in the middle overs, and that eventually was the difference. While the Zimbabweans would look for a clean swipe, Irish would like to savage some pride by winning the last ODI.

Brief Scores:

• Ireland 268-7 (Paul Stirling 72, Gary Wilson 65; Sikandar Raza 3-49)
• Zimbabwe 270-5(Craig Ervine 101*, Sean Williams 43; Kevin O’Brien 2-46)
• Zimbabwe won the match by 5 wickets.