For only the third time in World Cup history, there was a tied match in the competition, as Zimbabwe failed to overhaul Ireland’s total of 221 in a match that, while it had more than its fair share of twists and turns, Ireland probably deserved to win.
After winning the toss, Prosper Utseya put Ireland in to bat, a decision that paid immediate dividends when William Porterfield fell before the Irish had even scored. His fellow opener Jeremy Bray, however, carried his bat through the full innings for an unbeaten 115, the backbone of the Irish innings. Lower-order contributions of 28 & 20 from White and Johnston saw Ireland post a total of 221, respectable enough on a Sabina Park wicket that was bowler-friendly. In the field, Zimbabwe performed well, although in the last few overs there were some sloppy errors that allowed a few freebies through for the Irish, while most of the bowlers were on target and economical, with Utseya only allowing 29 runs for his 10 overs, and Mpofu, Chigumbura and Brent picking up 2 wickets apiece.
222 was the target for Zimbabwe, then - challenging, but far from impossible. Terry Duffin fell for just 12 - after having twice edged behind & been dropped, it was third time lucky for Irish wicket-keeper O’Brien as Duffin failed to learn from his mistakes and threw away his wicket. Vusi Sibanda, however, was on good form, playing a restrained but profitable innings while his team-mates got carried away around him. Justice Chibhabha never really settled into the crease and left with just 12 runs to his name, while Sean Williams threw all caution to the wind and soon paid the price.
Sibanda was very unlucky to be out after hitting his own wicket, and it fell to Stuart Matsikenyeri and Brendan Taylor to again stabilise the Zim innings - a job they did well, until Taylor was “run-out” for 24 is the 44th over. I say “run-out” as, whatever the laws of the game may say I wouldn’t have considered Taylor’s dismissal to be fair: a shot from Matsikenyeri took an uncontrolled deflection off McCallan’s hand and hit Taylor’s stumps as a result - he’d been backing up for the run, and was given out as he was out of his crease.
Zimbabwe’s final four - Gary Brent, Chris Mpofu, Prosper Utseya and Ed Rainsford - then appeared at the crease for a series of cameo appearances as the pressure got to Zimbabwe and wickets began to fall with depressing regularity. From having at one stage needed less than 3/over to win, Zimbabwe entered the final innings with Matsikenyeri on strike, needing 9 runs to win. Two, two, and one left Rainsford on strike, 4 runs from 3 balls required - Rainsford hit the single, and another two from Matsikenyeri left the scores tied on the final ball. A run-out on the final ball denied Zimbabwe victory, left the Irish fans in raptures, and left Zim coach Kevin Curran looking decidedly unimpressed on the pavillion balcony.
To be fair to Ireland, they should have won this - a misfield led to them missing a run-out attempt on Matsikenyeri’s first ball, and there were several other misfields and dropped catches that could have seen Zimbabwe dismissed some way short of the total, and Ireland will no doubt be rueing those missed chances. But come the end of the day, they avoided defeat at the hands of a Full Member nation, and will be justly proud of that. For Zimbabwe, they also had their chance to win this match, but bottled it when victory was in sight. Both Zimbabwe and Ireland now need to win their two remaining group matches against Pakistan and West Indies if they’re to proceed to the Super Eight stage - on performances today, that’s unlikely, so their World Cup adventures are essentially over. At least Ireland will take some pride home with them.
Ireland 221/9 (50 overs; Bray 115*, Chigumbura 2/21), Zimbabwe 221 (50 overs; Matsikenyeri 73*, McCallan 2/56). Match tied. Check below the cut for the full scorecard.
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