BELFAST: Despite taking a fine start through their openers, Zimbabwe crumbled on the first day of the one-off Test against Ireland in Belfast on Thursday.

The Zimbabwe openers deli­v­ered after the visitors were asked to bat first by Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie, and showed no signs of red-ball rustiness at the Civil Service Cricket Club ground.

However, the home team crawled back to bowl them out for just 210. Ireland’s reply never got underway as rain arrived to force stumps early.

Joylord Gumbie raced to 26 off 31 at the start but at least three boundaries were fetched in streaky fashion. Prince Masvaure, who was patient to begin with, drove Craig Young for his first boundary and slowly grew in confidence. The bowling changes didn’t work as the openers managed to bat out the opening session for 85 runs. Masvaure then kick-started the post-lunch session with a boundary but Ireland finally struck when Gumbie hit one straight to square leg.

After a short rain burst, play did resume as Masvaure helped himself to a half-century. Just when it looked like another huge partnership could bloom to frustrate Ireland, Barry McCarthy struck again with a lovely delivery to hit the top of off stump that saw Dion Myers depart for just 10. That was the opening Ireland needed as they slowly managed to gain control.

Craig Ervine top-edged a shot to give Craig Young his first wicket whereas Curtis Campher got the big wicket of the well-settled Masvaure who edged down the leg in unfortunate fashion. Sean Williams tried to break the shackles with a flurry of boundaries but Andy McBrine’s double-wicket over put Zimbabwe under severe pressure.

In the following over, it was Mark Adair’s turn to open his account before the tail eventually gave up. From a strong 143-2 at one stage, Zimbabwe lost their final eight wickets for the addition of just 67 runs before rain arrived again.

SCOREBOARD

ZIMBABWE (1st Innings):

J. Gumbie c Campher b McCarthy 49

P. Masvaure c Tucker b Campher 74

D. Myers b McCarthy 10

C. Ervine c McBrine b Young 5

S. Williams c Stirling b McBrine 35

B. Bennett c Tucker b Adair 8

C. Madande c Young b McBrine 0

B. Muzarabani c Stirling b McBrine 4

R. Ngarava c Humphreys b Adair 5

T. Chivanga not out 7

T. Chatara c Tucker b McCarthy 0

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-5, W-4) 13

TOTAL (all out, 71.3 overs) 210

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-97 (Gumbie), 2-121 (Myers), 3-143 (Ervine), 4-167 (Masvaure), 5-193 (Williams), 6-193 (Madande), 7-194 (Bennett), 8-198 (Muzarabani), 9-206 (Ngarava)

BOWLING: Adair 18-1-49-2 (2w); McCarthy 15.3-5-42-3; Young 14-1-40-1 (1w); Campher 11-2-33-1 (1w); McBrine 13-2-37-3

IRELAND: A. Balbirnie (captain), P. Moor, C. Campher, H. Tector, P. Stirling, L. Tucker, A. McBrine, M. Adair, B. McCarthy, C. Young, M. Humphreys

UMPIRES: Richard Kettleborough (England), Sharfuddoula Saikat (Bangladesh)

TV UMPIRE: Mark Hawthorne (Ireland)

MATCH REFEREE: Jeffrey Crowe (New Zealand

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2024