After going down painfully in the opening game of the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, Ireland made a solid comeback, winning the second game by seven wickets. Pacer Shane Getkate and experienced batsman Kevin O’Brien played the starring roles as the hosts bounced back strongly in Dublin this Sunday.
Winning the toss and opting to bat first, the visitors struggled for the first half of their batting effort, slipping to 64/5 at one stage before fine unbeaten knocks from Milton Shumba (46* off 27 balls) and Ryan Burl (37* off 33 balls) helped them reach past 150.
Getkate picked up three of the five Zimbabwean wickets that fell while conceding only 20 runs off his four overs. That excellent spell ensured that the home team never really allowed the tourists to make a return to the contest, even though the rest of their attack wasn’t as spot-on, barring off-spinner Simi Singh (0/19).
In the run-chase, Ireland got off to a superb start. Their openers Paul Stirling and O’Brien have maximized the powerplay restrictions and added 59 runs for the first wicket. Stirling hit 37 runs off 29 balls before he was out caught.
While O’Brien made a sedate half-century (60 off 41), Dockrell produced a measured 33 not out off 26 balls. They shared a partnership of 52 runs and helped Ireland reach the victory post with an over and a half to spare and seven wickets still intact.
Burl, who batted well in the first half, also picked up a couple of wickets in his miserly spell (2/24).
Losing gut-wrenchingly by just three runs in the low-scoring first T20I, Ireland will be pleased with their all-round performance to clinch the second game and level the series 1-1.
Brief scores
Zimbabwe 152/5 in 20 overs (Milton Shumba 46*, Ryan Burl 37*; Shane Getkate 3/20, Simi Singh 0/19) lost to Ireland 153/3 in 18.3 overs (Kevin O’Brien 60, Paul Stirling 37; Ryan Burl 2/24, Tendai Chatara 1/20) by seven wickets
