Ireland beat Zimbabwe by six-wicket on Sunday, complete their 3-0 whitewash in third ODI in Stormont Cricket Ground, Belfast on July 7. Irish pacer Tim Murtagh‘s three-wicket haul helped to secure Ireland their first-ever ODI series win over Zimbabwe. They completed the victory with 52 balls to spare.

Ireland whitewashed miserable Zimbabwe at home ground

Tim Murtagh produced such a clinical performance with the ball and took three wickets while Ireland’s top order did the splendid job to land their country to first-ever ODI series against Zimbabwe.

Two Irish openers Paul Stirling and James McCollum played good innings and helped to build a solid pillar for Ireland. They made a 60 runs partnership together which literally made the task easier for the Irish team.

After the partnership breaks by Zimbabwean pacer Tendai Chatara, Ireland lost two wickets quickly but another solid batting partnership of William Porterfield and Kevin O’ Brien put Ireland in command control again.

McCollum posted a half-century and his partnership with Porterfield helped Ireland to reach victory easily. Irish Skipper Porterfield missed half-century for 1 run before he gets dismissals by Ryan Buri.

McCollum was dismissed too after his half-century and his captain and his other teammate Kevin O Brien landed the victory without any problem. Kevin O Brien was unbeaten with 35 runs and stayed on the crease till the last ball.

Captain Porterfield passed 4000 ODI runs of his career and he praised his team’s overall performance. He is happy that his team blocked Zimbabwe to get their rhythm back on the game.

Tim Murtagh took nine-wickets in the whole series and won the ”Man Of the Series” award.

Tim Murtagh awarded the ”Man of the Series” award for his nine-wicket haul against Zimbabwe in bilateral series.

This ODI is the last ODI for Ireland in 2019 as they will not play anymore ODI in this year. They will start the shortest format with a series starting on July 10 against Zimbabwe, followed by the Euro T20 Slam and the World T20 qualifiers in October.

Ireland will also play a Test match against England on Lord’s, London. The Test match will happen between 24-27 July.

Brief scores: Zimbabwe 190 in 46.5 overs (Sean Williams 67; Tim Murtagh 3-39, Shane Getkate 2-30)

Ireland 191/4 in 41.2 overs (James McCollum 54, William Porterfield 49; Sean Williams 1-14)

Zimbabwe lost to Ireland by 6 wickets.