HARARE: Stephen Doheny made light of his lack of international experience to top score with 84 as Ireland beat Zimbabwe by 46 runs on Saturday to level their one-day international series.

After losing the toss and been put in to bat, Ireland made 294-7 at Harare Sports Club with Doheny, in just his second match, and Harry Tector (75) the chief contributors.

In response, Zimbabwe never matched the tourists’ run rate despite half centuries from former England Test batsman Gary Ballance (52) and Innocent Kaia (51). Zimbabwe were all out for 248 in 47.3 overs, and now the stage is set for a series decider in the Zimbabwe capital on Monday.

The result bucked a trend as the team winning the toss and opting to bat second won all four previous tour matches — three in a Twenty20 series won 2-1 by Zimbabwe and the first ODI.

SCOREBOARD

IRELAND:

P. Stirling c Ballance b Evans 45

S. Doheny c Ballance b Burl 84

M. Commins c Ballance b Evans 6

H. Tector c Burl b Chatara 75

L. Tucker c Chibhabha b Ngarava 11

G. Dockrell c & b Chatara 30

C. Campher c Ballance b Chatara 2

A. McBrine not out 6

M. Adair not out 8

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, NB-1, W-21) 27

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 294

DID NOT BAT: G. Hume, J. Little

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-104 (Stirling), 2-125 (Commins), 3-182 (Doheny), 4-215 (Tucker), 5-258 (Tector), 6-260 (Campher), 7-281 (Dockrell).

BOWLING: Ngarava 10-0-54-1 (5w), Chatara 10-0=51-3 (2w), Nyauchi 5-0-28-0 (5w), Burl 7-0-43-1 (2w), Evans 9-0-66-2 (5w, 1nb), Raza 9-0-47-0 (1w).

ZIMBABWE:

I. Kaia c Stirling b Little 51

T. Marumani lbw b Little 0

C. Chibhabha c Hume b McBrine 40

G. Ballance c Little b Hume 52

Sikandar Raza c McBrine b Adair 25

R. Burl run out (Campher) 41

C. Madande b Little 6

B. Evans c Tector b Hume 14

R. Ngarava b Little 2

V. Nyauchi b Adair 7

T. Chatara not out 2

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-3, W-3) 8

TOTAL (all out, 47.3 overs) 248

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Marumani), 2-90 (Chibhabha), 3-102 (Kaia), 4-140 (Raza), 5-207 (Burl), 6-219 (Madande), 7-235 (Evans), 8-238 (Ngarava), 9-242 (Ballance).

BOWLING: Little 10-0-38-4 (2w), Adair 8.3-0-39-2, Hume 9-0-52-2, McBrine 10-0-48-1, Dockrell 2-0-5-0, Campher 4-0-26-0 (1w), Tector 4-0-35-0.

RESULT: Ireland won by 46 runs.

Published in Dawn, January 22th, 2023