Ireland draw with Zimbabwe in second ODI

Ireland and Zimbabwe tied the second match of their three-match One-Day International series after a thrilling finish in yet another rain-affected game at the Harare Sports Club today.

Requiring six runs off the final over, Jane Maguire and Ava Canning managed to score four off the first three balls. However, Zimbabwean Loreen Tshuma bounced back – she followed a dot ball with a wide before forcing Maguire to come out of her crease chasing the winning run, only to get stumped by Chiedza Dhururu to end the game.

Having Laura Delany earlier won the toss and elected to bowl, Ireland - who fielded an unchanged side from the one that won the opening game of the series on Thursday – struggled to make the initial breakthrough.

Zimbabwe's opening pair of Mary-Anne Musonda and Dhururu dug in early on but then stepped up the scoring rate after the power play, going on to score a 92-run opening partnership. Both openers fell in the space of six balls - Musonda’s middle stump knocked back by a Delany delivery before Dhururu skied a ball from Cara Murray - to leave Zimbabwe 92-2 after 22 overs.

Ashley Ndiraya and Kelis Ndhlovu also combined for 67, before Arlene Kelly tore into their middle-order. The Malahide seamer went on the equal her career-best ODI figures of 4-35 as the hosts went on to score 227-9 from their 50 overs. The game was also notable for her team-mate Freya Sargent, as the Clontarf spinner took a wicket on her 18th birthday, that of Tshuma.

In response, Ireland openers Leah Paul and Gaby Lewis took on the task of chasing down the Zimbabwean total and scored an 84-run opening stand. Not long after that the rain came, and we had a delay of almost 90 minutes.

Despite a reduced target of 203 off 43 overs, that delay seemed to