Follow UsZimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani turned out to be a blessing for his team in the one off Test against Ireland in Bulawayo. After Ireland won the toss and elected to bat first, the tall pacer picked 7/58 as Ireland were bowled out for 260. This turned out to be the best ever figures for a Zimbabwe pacer in the longest format of the game.
Muzarabani had also recorded the second best figures for a Zimbabwe pacer, when he picked 6/95 against Afghanistan in January this year.
Ireland’s top order was blown away by Muzarabani. He picked openers Peter Moor and Andy Balbirnie (also the skipper) by the fifth over, with Richard Ngarva sending back number three Curtis Campher.
Muzarabani’s fire in the opening spell wasn’t over and he came back to dismiss Harry Tector and Paul Stirling as well to dent Ireland’s middle order.
Andy McBrine and Mark Adair then led a solid rearguard effort and added 90* and 78 runs each to help Ireland reach 260. They played 180 deliveries in their 127 runs partnership.
At the time of writing this report, Zimbabwe are 58/1 after 17 overs with opener Ben Curran back in the pavilion.