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HARARE, Zimbabwe – Despite a tremendous fightback with the ball, Ireland Men suffered a heartbreaking one-wicket defeat to Zimbabwe in a thrilling opening game of their three-match T20I series under lights in Harare.

The match went down to the final over, with Zimbabwe still requiring nine runs. Despite a boundary from Richard Ngarava, the home side faced the equation of two needed off the last two balls. When Mark Adair completed a stunning catch at short fine leg, diving full-length running back towards the boundary rope to remove Ngarava it looked as though Ireland were going to get the series off to the perfect start. But in the end Blessing Muzarabani became the Zimbabwean hero when he managed to get his bat on the final delivery as it ran away for the winning runs.

Adair, who had to be escorted off the pitch with an injury after that catch, had earlier given Ireland renewed hope as he took two wickets at the death to become the first Irish bowler to claim 100 T20I wickets.

Having earlier lost the toss and been sent into bat, Ireland posted what seemed to be below-par score of 147-8. The opening pair of Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie showed early intent – slapping a couple of excellent cover drives – and going on to score 44 runs for the first wicket, before Stirling was trapped lbw by Ngarava.

By the end of the powerplay Ireland had moved on to 52-1. However, Zimbabwean captain Sikandar Raza, struck with just his second delivery to remove Balbirnie (32) with a low bouncer.

Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker re-grouped, and settled into a nice rhythm, as the scoreboard ticked along. Sean Williams then forced Tucker (21) to hit a good length ball outside off-stump straight to Ryan Burl, and Ireland were 84-3. Campher followed shortly after as Zimbabwe’s bowlers responded well.

Ireland’s batting woes continued as George Dockrell, Adair and Barry McCarthy all went cheaply. However, a battling ninth-wicket partnership, including a couple of big blows by Gareth Delany in the final over saw Ireland finish their innings on 147-8.

While defending a modest total fielding was going to be crucial, and the safe hands of Tector saw opener Marumani (1) depart after he chipped a McCarthy delivery straight to him. Tector followed that up with a brilliant jumping one-handed catch to remove Brian Bennett.

Further wickets from Josh Little and Dockrell had the hosts 63-3 at the halfway point of their innings, compared to 74-2 for Ireland, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that the wicket of Raza was becoming more and more crucial as the innings wore on with Zimbabwe wrestling back the initiative.

Raza went on to record his twelfth T20I fifty, off 35 balls. However, his luck finally ran out when a diving catch by Stirling off Adair’s bowling saw his innings end on 65.

Then, needing nine runs to win off the last over, skipper Stirling turned to McCarthy, and he almost delivered. But it wasn’t to be, as Muzarabani scored the winning runs with the final act.

The sides will meet again at the same venue on Saturday, 9 December, with a 1pm start local time (11am Irish time).

MATCH SUMMARY

Zimbabwe v Ireland, 1st T20 International, Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe, 7 December 2023

Ireland 147-8 (20 overs; A Balbirnie 32, G Delany 26*; S Raza 3-28)
Zimbabwe 148-9 (20 overs; S Raza 65, W Madhevere 25; J Little 2-17)

Zimbabwe won by 1 wicket

See full scorecard