Ireland 238/9, Zimbabwe 239/7: IRELAND’S CRICKETERS fell just short of a remarkable victory in Harare today as they were pipped at the death by Zimbabwe in the second One Day International of their tour.

Losing the toss and being sent to bat, Ireland were hit with the loss of opener William Porterfield for just nine, though his partner Paul Stirling dug in to score a respectable 52 from 49 balls before being bowled and caught by Graeme Cramer.

In the meantime, Ireland had lost Andre Botha (lbw) and Niall O’Brien, who disappointed with just eight runs before falling to curiously Irish-sounding Zimbabwean Sean Williams.

Then came Kevin O’Brien, however, who put in the day’s biggest innings with a commendable 73 from 102, surviving for the entirety of the innings while Trent Johnston also threw in a valuable 30 runs as Ireland sought to post a big total and settling for 238 with O’Brien and George Dockrell remaining in play as Zimbabwe ran out of balls.

In the hosts’ own innings, the quality of the middle order shone through, with all but the opener Hamilton Masakadza (8) registering in double-figures, propelled by man-of-the-match Brendan Taylor who blasted 71 from 99 balls to give the hosts the steering they needed, with a full 80 runs coming between the fall of the second and third wickets before Taylor himself fell for the fourth with 35.5 overs gone.

There was a degree of drama towards the end with Craig Ervine being caught by Dockrell just three balls and four runs later, while John Mooney caught Charles Coventry after a bowl by Andrew White to leave the hosts on 175/6 with just over ten overs left, but Cremer’s own 22 was enough to send the hosts home with just seven balls to spare.