Put to bat first in the 4th T20I, the home team posted a massive 174/4 in their allotted 20 overs. Kevin O Brien shined with the bat and scored a tremendous 39-ball 47 with the help of seven boundaries.
Opener Paul Stirling and captain Andrew Balbirnie made valuable contributions of 39 and 36 runs, respectively, guiding their team to a competitive total. For the visitors, Wellington Masakadza picked up a couple of wickets for 22 runs.
In reply, Zimbabwe could only manage to reach 110/9, losing the contest by a huge margin of 64 runs. Captain Craig Ervine, with 28 from 30 balls, was their top scorer. For the Irish team, pacer Mark Adair was the pick of the bowlers and completely turned the game around.
Adair bagged a four-wicket haul for just 23 runs in his quota of 4 overs. Adair was also named ‘Player of the Match’ for his scintillating performance with the ball in the game.
After the match, Adair revealed that the whole team sat together after losing the series opener and decided to improve from the second fixture.
“It was nice to get wickets and make an impact. We have been good over the last four days. We looked at that first T20, and we sat down and needed to look at our plans better. The lads are coming in and performing at the right time. We enjoy playing cricket up here in the northwest. We had a good series against South Africa, and we need to push ourselves further,” said Adair at the post-match presentation.
Irish skipper Balbirnie stated that all the lads are performing pretty well and cashing every opportunity thrown at them as the T20 World Cup is approaching and the team management want a few match-winners for the upcoming global showpiece event.
“We didn’t get up to 180, but a pretty complete performance. We need to give guys roles before the World Cup. We are going to need six or seven match-winners. Adair and Shane were brilliant. A lot of positives, and we just want to keep getting better. We want a squad of 15 who can all play and win games on their day for Ireland. It’s not easy picking an XI, and the guys are aware of what we are doing,” said Balbirnie.
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