Stirling blitz helps Ireland complete crushing DLS win over Zimbabwe

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Opening batsman Paul Stirling smashed 83* off 36 balls as Ireland sauntered to victory over Zimbabwe in the second T20I at Bready.

With the first game washed out, the second on Friday, 12 July, took on added importance, but when the rain fell after five overs of the tourists’ first innings, it seemed another no-result could be on the cards.

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Thankfully the rain relented enough to allow a 13-over game, and Zimbabwe built well on their platform of 40/2, smashing 47 runs off the next four overs. Sean Williams fell to the final ball of the eighth over for 34 off 12, but Craig Ervine carried onto a half-century.

Ireland were able to pull their opponents back towards the end, claiming five wickets in the final three overs. Mark Adair chipped in with four, albeit at the cost of 40 runs across three overs, while Craig Young’s 2/20 off three overs were excellent figures amid the carnage.

Zimbabwe’s 132/8, adjusted to a target of 134 from 13 overs, looked a stiff ask, but Stirling made it into a cruise. The assault was immediate, albeit started by Kevin O’Brien who crashed consecutive boundaries from the third and fourth balls of the innings, and unrelenting, each over containing a boundary and only two containing fewer than two.

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O’Brien fell to the last ball of the fifth over for 19 off 13, but Andy Balbirnie supplied strong support, and there was no stopping Stirling. His knock contained seven fours and six sixes, and the strike-rate of 230.55 was the highest by an Ireland batsman in a T20I half-century.

It was his seventh fifty in eight international innings. Zimbabwe will surely have to find a way of stopping him from making it eight in nine in the series decider on Sunday, but it won’t be easy.

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