Ireland 260 (McBrine 90*, Adair 78, Muzarabani 7-58, Ngarava 2-65) and 298 (Balbirnie 66 Tucker 58, Ngarava 4-55, Gwandu 2-28, Madhevere 2-48) beat Zimbabwe 267 (Welch 90, Muzarabani 47, McCarthy 4-75, McBrine 3-59) and 228 (Madhevere 84, Bennett 45, Humphreys 6-57, McCarthy 2-22) by 63 runs
The day started 30 minutes earlier than scheduled with 37 overs being lost on day four. Humphreys, who had bowled 18 overs to stumps, was handed the new ball. He needed three overs to create a chance – when he had Madhevere nearly chip a drive to cover – and one more ball to trap Newman Nyamhuri plumb in front and complete his five-for.
McBrine replaced Mark Adair right after and created two chances in his second over, both of which went down. Lorcan Tucker dropped one that went low off Richard Ngarava’s edge and McBrine couldn’t hold onto a low skimmer the next ball. In the next over, Paul Stirling shuffled to the right at first slip to fetch Madhevere’s aerial reverse sweep but couldn’t get in reach.
Ireland took the new ball in the 81st over and McBrine found extra bounce with it rightaway. The sun broke out but Zimbabwe’s hopes flickered off in the 84th, when Humphreys got Madhevere, his sixth scalp.
Blessing Muzarabani had put on 67 for the final wicket in the first innings with Trevor Gwandu, but to put on 74 with Richard Ngarava was too big an ask. Ngarava hung around for 39 balls and took a couple of swings. He was beaten in the 86th and knocked over in the next.
McBrine flighted a full ball on middle stump, beat the slog sweep, and set the smiles free among Ireland’s camp. When asked about the hat-trick of wins at the presentation, Ireland’s captain Andy Balbirnie said, “Just waiting for the DVD to come out! We are desperate to play, we don’t know when our next Test match is.”
As per the FTP, they are scheduled to play Afghanistan at home in July.