Zimbabwe beat Ireland to go top of the table

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Zimbabwe have put themselves in the driving seat for an ICC Cricket World Cup place having beaten Ireland by 107 runs in the ICC CWCQ Super Sixes match at the Harare Sports Club, where the bowlers came to the party.

Zimbabwe now go to the top of the Super Sixes points table, edging out Scotland on net run-rate, while Ireland (two points) now trail Scotland (five points) and the West Indies (four points) in the race for a top-two spot and a place in the ICC CWC 2019.

Both sides entered the match hoping to build on the momentum gained during impressive group stage outings, as Ireland won the toss and elected to field.

Echoing the pattern of the first innings, in which Sikandar Raza had given Zimbabwe a mid-lower-order boost to help the hosts post 211, it was the bowlers who had the most joy during the early part of the second innings, as Ireland chased 212 to win.

Ireland got off to a poor start when skipper William Porterfield mistimed a pull shot off Tendai Chisoro which went straight to Sikandar Raza at midwicket. Andrew Balbirnie then departed in the first ball of the seventh over to make it 17/2 – Kyle Jarvis finding the inside edge with a bit of nip off the deck, which was expertly grappled by Brendan Taylor behind the sticks.

Ireland were reeling when veteran batsman Ed Joyce came and went in the space of two deliveries, courtesy of tremendous work from Taylor yet again – this time a tidy stumping off Chisoro, which Joyce believed he had flicked passed the keeper and down the leg-side after the ball stroked the thigh pad. Joyce walked out of the crease and didn't stop until he reached the pavilion.

Niall O’Brien then scooped up a sweep shot which found the diving Blessing Muzarabani behind square, who needed every inch of his lengthy frame to claim a tremendous catch that granted Chisoro his third scalp to make it 34/4 after 11.3 overs.

Opener Paul Sterling was still standing. A meaty pull-shot helped instil a bit of confidence, as Kevin O’Brien also recorded his first boundary with a classy sweep. But the latter was soon undone by left-arm spinner Sean Williams who met the outside edge which found the welcoming hands of Hamilton Masakadza at slip.

The spin of Williams and Graeme Cremer made it difficult for the Irish to hit their way out of trouble. Stirling’s forward defence looked reluctant, but whilst he remained Ireland had a sniff of a chance.

Stirling and Gary Wilson kept things ticking along but Ireland’s faint hopes were extinguished when Stirling was run-out by Sikandar Raza after a horrid mix-up. At 86/6, the target looked a long way away.

Cremer picked up the wicket of Wilson and Barry McCarthy – the first lbw and the latter a skier taken by Williams – as Ireland played more freely but without joy. Raza bowled Boyd Rankin after an ill-advised slog to make it 97/9, while Solomon Mire took a tidy catch in the deep off the bowling of Graeme Cremer to dismiss Tim Murtagh to seal a well-deserved victory.

Earlier, Raza lifted a sagging Zimbabwe innings from No.7 to take it to a position of respectability. Asked to bat by Porterfield, Zimbabwe looked in danger of finishing up around the 150 mark at one stage, but courtesy of Raza’s battling 83-ball 69* and his 42-run stand with Chisoro for the eighth wicket, the hosts managed to put up 211/9.

Despite their super run through Group B, there were two occasions when the Zimbabwe batting didn’t quite do the job – against Afghanistan (196) and against Scotland (210). They won the first one by two runs and the second was tied, but the travails with the bat came back to haunt Zimbabwe against Ireland.

Cephas Zhuwao did give Zimbabwe a rapid start, but after slamming two sixes and a four he sent a McCarthy slower delivery straight to Rankin at long-on to depart for an 18-ball 20.

The team total was 21/1 at that stage, and the innings chugged along fine with Solomon Mire and Masakadza as the team 50 was recorded in the ninth over. But both Mire (11) and Masakadza (18) fell with Zimbabwe on 50. Andy McBrine (2/42) struck first, spotting Mire coming down the track and pushing his off-spinner through quick and wide to have him stumped, and Rankin then had Masakadza’s number, a waft to a short delivery outside off going through to Niall O’Brien behind the stumps.

Zimbabwe’s 50/3 then became 87/5 as two big wickets – Williams and Taylor – fell. Williams (9) was just about starting to look settled when he pulled Murtagh (3/36) high to McCarthy at deep mid-wicket, and Taylor, Zimbabwe’s best batsman in the tournament, was beaten on the reverse sweep by McCarthy to be trapped lbw and walked back for a 41-ball 25.

Then it got worse. Raza watched from the other end as Craig Ervine and Cremer fell. Ervine was run out after a quick 26-ball 20, while Cremer (4) was out bowled by Kevin O’Brien, with the ball coming in sharply.

It was only after that, with 33 overs gone, that the resistance well and truly started, led by Raza with Chisoro playing a gallant supporting role. Together, the two batted for almost 12 overs, Raza cautious and Chisoro less so. When the opportunity presented itself, Chisoro did hit out, but usually along the ground, collecting three boundaries. As for Raza, the boundary hits were hidden away completely, and the two fours he had hit along with a six while Cremer was around felt like a distant memory.

The two of them added 42 runs together, runs that kept Zimbabwe in the game, before Chisoro was finally dismissed by Murtagh, feathering an edge through to O’Brien off yet another slower ball. Chisoro made 21 in 42 balls.

Kyle Jarvis came and went, becoming Murtagh’s third victim, but Raza still had enough left in the tank to speed up, get to his half-century, help Zimbabwe bat out their quota of overs and get past 200, which included two sixes off McCarthy in the final over. He finished with four fours and three sixes to his name – a brilliant effort given the circumstances.

The next batch of ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier matches take place on Saturday March 17 and feature Papua New Guinea versus Hong Kong and Netherlands against Nepal in the 9th/10th playoff and 7th/8th play-off respectively.