Andy Balbirnie:
[Asked if he regrets bowling first after winning the toss] “I don’t think so. I don’t think I can look back and regret any sort of toss that goes ahead. In hindsight, it looks like it might have made a difference but I think we were pretty happy at the halfway stage. We thought it was a good wicket. We expected it to be a good wicket all day. I think when you get blown away four wickets down, you’re always up against it. So just bitterly disappointed with how we’ve started the competition but it’s a pretty straightforward shootout now for us.
[On Josh Little] He’s our best bowler at the moment. He’s our strike bowler. He’s got a lot of experience in franchise cricket now. He leads that attack brilliantly. He’s someone that we’re really excited about all formats and hopefully, he can continue to progress for us. They bowled really well, and got it swinging. A couple nipped as well. It was tricky but we have to counter that as batters and get our team on the front foot and we weren’t able to do that tonight.”
Craig Ervine:
“We’re ecstatic. To put in a performance like that in the first game back in the World Cup, we showed we belong and it’s a pity that it has been so long since we last played in a World Cup. [On Raza] He’s been a solid performer for us over the last few months and it’s exciting to see that he can bring that form here again. Different conditions, and bouncier wickets but it didn’t change his form so credit to him. He played exceptionally well today. [New ball pair of Ngarava and Muzarabani] What we took from the Ireland innings was to get slightly fuller.
We thought Ireland bowled too short t times. Credit to Richard and Bless for hitting their straps and hitting that perfect length. It was difficult to hit through the covers on the up and it wasn’t that short. Those were the wickets that we got caught behind. [On late drops] You always know in a competition like this that run rate could be a possibility at the end so we wanted to finish it off as quickly as possible. So it was a little bit disappointing not to finish it off but credit to all the guys coming out and putting up a great performance.”
Sikandar Raza is named Player of the Match:
“The only thing I said to Sean was let’s try to take the team as far as we both can. I just wanted to bat. I didn’t want to let any emotions get the best of me. The best way to get out of that situation was not to let emotions get the better of me. I just wanted to time the ball well and take it from there. I thought the wicket got harder, or I got tired, the second phase of my innings was poor. When they were bowling length, it was very tricky to get going. I was just trying to get into positions to pull, cut, and hook. All I was thinking was that if they don’t miss their target, I have to do something. [On his excellent 2022 form] There is no secret, to be honest.
The only secret I can tell you is to try to channel all the emotions of success and failure in the right way and try to compete with the best in the world so we can represent Zimbabweans and put our flag among the best in the world. We wanted to say one thing: when we qualified, as much as we were happy to be here, we knew that our journey is not done. We didn’t just come here because we are happy to be representing Zimbabwe. The goal we brought was to get into the Super 12 and take some of the big teams and see where we go. So to have this victory today is certainly humbling, exciting, and happy as well. But for me, once the team chat is done, I wouldn’t be celebrating this victory. It’s done, it’s in the past. We have a very tough game against the Caribbean boys in 48 hours’ time and that’s what I’m looking forward to now.”
Zimbabwe vs Ireland Highlights today. 4th Match, First Round Group B (N), Bellerive Oval, Hobart, Monday 17-10-2022, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
Toss: Ireland chose to field.
“It looks like a pretty good wicket,” Andy Balbirnie says. “We had a good look at what went on in the first innings. It’s a big boundary here and we’re aware of that. It could well come down to run rate so every run out there counts.”
Craig Ervine says Zimbabwe are happy to bat first. “It has been a little bit difficult to chase down scores. It’s one thing just getting here but it’s another playing good cricket and showing people we belong here at the World Cup. Our main goal is to get to the Super 12s. Sikandar Raza has been in exceptional form and Blessing Muzarabani is making his comeback after injury.”
Zimbabwe team: 1 Regis Chakabva (wk), 2 Craig Ervine (capt), 3 Wessly Madhevere, 4 Sean Williams, 5 Sikandar Raza, 6 Milton Shumba, 7 Ryan Burl, 8 Luke Jongwe, 9 Tendai Chatara, 10 Richard Ngarava, 11 Blessing Muzarabani.
Ireland team: 1 Andy Balbirnie (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 4 Harry Tector, 5 Curtis Campher, 6 George Dockrell, 7 Gareth Delany, 8 Mark Adair, 9 Simi Singh, 10 Barry McCarthy, 11 Josh Little.
Head to Head In T20I’s: 8
Zimbabwe Won: 3
Ireland Won: 5
Zimbabwe T20I Rankings: 11th
Ireland T20I Rankings: 12th
Form guide
(last five completed Tests, most recent first)
Zimbabwe WLWWW
Ireland WLLWW
Match Timings: 8:00 AM GMT | 7:00 PM Local
Umpires – Chris Brown, Kumar Dharmasena
TV Umpire – Aleem Dar
Match Referee – Chris Broad
Reserve Umpire – Paul Wilson
Match number – T20I no. 1828
