Ireland captain Paul Stirling targeting first series win in Zimbabwe

Ireland cricket captain Paul Stirling is relishing the prospect of leading his team to a first series win on Zimbabwean soil, but believes the hosts' recent poor run of results won't make the task any easier.

Ireland will end the year in similar fashion to the way it started, taking on the African side in a six-match multi-format white-ball series in Harare.

The tour is effectively part of the build-up to next year’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA.

While Ireland missed out on the recent 50-over Cricket World Cup, it acquitted itself well at the 2022 T20 World Cup where they made it through to the Super 12 stage of the competition, beating eventual winners England along the way.

In January this year, Ireland and Zimbabwe drew 1-1 in a three-match T20 Internationals series in Harare, while the hosts won the One Day International (ODI) series 2-1.

"Yeah, it's always been fairly even," Stirling said on the eve of the series.

"I don't think there's too many series played between the two teams in Zimbabwe, where it's not either 2-1 or a 1-1 draw with a bit of rain. I think it's a really important series for us because we want to get back to winning ways.

"We will hopefully target getting our first series win on these shores to start with, and every game is really important."

Hosts Zimbabwe come into the series off the disappointment of failing to qualify for the next year’s T20 World Cup, but Stirling says it doesn’t change the challenge facing his team.

"I don't think [failing in the recent qualifier] has changed my opinion on Zimbabwe cricket," he said.

"The team itself, we know they're a strong team. We've never won a series in Zimbabwe, so I think there's absolutely no reason to take Zimbabwe lightly or think that we cannot