Little, Campher star as Ireland wins Zimbabwe ODI

Josh Little claimed a national-record six wickets for 36, and Curtis Campher hit a brisk 66 as Ireland beat Zimbabwe by 4 wickets on Friday to take a 1-0 lead in a one-day worldwide sequence.

Having received the toss and opted to bat first, Zimbabwe slumped to 70-6 earlier than a middle-order revival led by Wellington Masakadza (40) noticed the host all out for 166 in 42.5 overs.

Seamer Little wreaked havoc within the fourth over, claiming three wickets off 5 deliveries at Harare Sports Club.

He dismissed Zimbabwe star Sikandar Raza, deputising as captain for injured Craig Ervine, quickly after for simply two.

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Ireland misplaced Andy Balbirnie to a golden duck, and fellow opener and captain Paul Stirling (14) fell cheaply because the customer stumbled to 29-2 in an innings briefly halted by rain.

Campher then took cost, hanging 10 fours off 71 balls, and stands of 52 with Harry Tector and 43 with Lorcan Tucker arrange the vacationers to succeed in 170-6 with 59 balls remaining.

Victory gave Ireland the lead within the three-match sequence after the primary was deserted because of rain on Wednesday. The last match is scheduled for Sunday.

Player-of-the-match Little mentioned: “It was nice that the team won, and I enjoyed some personal success.

“I managed to beat the bat today on a few occasions, and it kept the ball new, allowing me to swing it.

“My in-swingers were a decent option to the right-handers, so that is definitely a plan. I was quite sore after my spell, so I want to get into an ice bath and be ready for Sunday.”

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Stirling, captaining Ireland for the primary time on the white-ball tour of Zimbabwe, described the ten overs of Little as “one of the best spells I have seen”.

“We wanted to go 1-0 up and ticked that box. There is a series to win, and we will come back hungry on Sunday.”

Raza mentioned: “We have had too many top-order collapses this year. We needed at least 200 runs to be competitive.”