Ireland’s third successive Test win went under the radar back home

IT took just over an hour of day five at Bulawayo for Ireland to secure a 63-run win over Zimbabwe and record Ireland’s third Test match win on the bounce.

Three-peats are all the rage at the moment, with the failure of the Kansas City Chiefs and the burgeoning ambition of Ireland’s rugby XV attracting billions of eyeballs for telecasts of their efforts. Ireland’s cricketers went about their business in a more understated way, recording their third successive win watched by a few hundred people at the ground and probably even fewer back home.

Total Sports Marketing, the Bangladesh-based agent that holds the rights to Zimbabwe’s home games didn’t manage to find a buyer in the UK or Ireland, so only those with a betting account could watch live, albeit without commentary.

The rights did sell elsewhere in the world, so the feats of Andrew McBrine and Matthew Humphreys did not go unnoticed, but back home the pair are really only household names around Donemana and Lisburn.

After a rain-affected Sunday, Zimbabwe’s only hope of salvaging anything lay in the rains returning yesterday but, for once, it was Ireland who were spared by the weather.

Humphreys had bowled a couple of overs on Saturday evening, picking up a wicket, and returned to the fray after the rains on Sunday afternoon. The Trinity student never rested after that, bowling 17 overs on the trot before bad light ended play on day four, and another nine yesterday morning.

The reward for his high quality left-arm spin was 6-57, the best bowling figures for an Irishman in their 10 Tests to date.

It was a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for a player whose previous Test experiences could have been chastening.

His debut came in Sri Lanka two years ago when the 20-year-old had never played a single first-class match. He was only the eighth player anywhere to have no previous since 1899, akin to being plucked out of the Lansdowne first XV to play the All Blacks.

He did as well as could be expected, especially as his captain clearly did not trust him and only asked him to bowl 10 out of the 151 overs Ireland sent down as Sri Lanka racked up 704-3. He had even fewer chances in his second Test, just five overs as Ireland’s seamers made hay against Zimbabwe in Stormont, but took his first wicket, that of Brian Bennett.

The Zimbabwean was one of his six scalps in Bulawayo, ending a crucial stand with Wessley Madhevere.

Zimbabwe started yesterday on 183-7 with Madhevere still there on 61. Six runs had been scored when Humphreys snapped up Newman Nyamhuri, pitching the ball on leg and straightening it for a plumb lbw and the bowler’s first ‘Michelle’ (five-for).

Madhevere and Richard Ngarava batted 10 overs, although that involved one remarkable McBrine over when three catches went down, via Lorcan Tucker and twice by the bowler.  

Ireland took the new ball but kept the spinners on and the extra bounce did for Madhevere. Humphreys pitched it on middle stump and the ball beat the bat to demolish the off. The Zimbabwean was distraught to be out for a battling 84.

Three overs later Ngarava had a heave at McBrine and lost his middle stump. The all-rounder’s unbeaten 90 and four first-innings wickets pipped Humphreys to the man of the match gong.

Skipper Andrew Balbirnie showed his delight after the game: ‘Test cricket is tough. We love Test cricket as a team, the need to work hard.

‘All our seamers worked hard, took wickets at key times. Humphreys was superb, McBrine does it every time he wears the Irish jersey.’

Asked what it was like to win three Tests in a row, he quipped ‘I’m just waiting for the DVD to come out!’

But Balbirnie’s next comment was not in jest: ‘We are desperate to play, we don’t know when our next Test match is.’

That was just Ireland’s 10th Test since 2018, only two of which have been at home. Cricket Ireland has been dropping hints for weeks that the only scheduled Test of the summer, against Afghanistan, was unlikely to happen despite being inked-in on ICC’s future tours programme.

And yesterday a draft fixture list for 2025 emerged with three home ODIs and three T20is against West Indies in May/June, and three T20is against England in September.
So another long summer beckons with no home Tests, and with no Tests the chances of staging 3-day interpros is nil.

It seems barmy that the one format at which Ireland are genuinely successful is treated so diffidently by the governing body, especially while the white ball teams flounder.

CI could convert the three ODIs on May 21, 23 and 25 into a Test with little difficulty if it had the will. On current form Ireland would give West Indies a good game over five days, as the respected Caribbean Cricket Podcast posted: ‘I said recently that Ireland would give West Indies a serious run for their money if they played a test series. People laughed. Be glad we dont have to test the theory.’

But for now, Balbirnie and his men can toast their spin twins and a hard-fought victory, all the sweeter for its rarity.