An unbeaten 43 from Tony Munyonga steered Zimbabwe to a three-wicket victory over Ireland, and a 1-0 lead in the T20I series in Harare.
Ireland posted 137-8 in an innings temporarily delayed by rain with Lorcan Tucker (46) and Harry Tector (28) adding 53 runs for the second wicket after opener Paul Stirling was out for one.
Zimbabwe reached 141-7 in reply with four balls to spare. The third and final match is set for Tuesday after the first on Saturday was abandoned due to rain.
“I’m really happy for Tony. He is one of our leading scorers in domestic cricket and I’m delighted that he was judged Man of the Match,” said Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza.
“I hope this is the first of many outstanding performances from him. He was calm, found the gaps and ran well.”
Ireland captain Stirling said: “We did not finish our innings well. Then there was a great knock by the Player of the Match.
“Craig [Young] is one of our stalwarts. He missed the ODI series due to a little niggle so we are glad to have him back.”
Curtis Campher (26) was the only other Irish batsman to reach double figures after they lost the toss, with their last five wickets falling for 36 runs.
Medium pacer Trevor Gwandu took three wickets and off-spinner Raza and fast medium pacer Richard Ngarava two each for the hosts.
Tucker, who struck a six and three fours off 40 balls, fell when he got a leading edge to a short-pitched Gwandu delivery and Brian Bennett took the catch at deep fine leg.
Tector, whose knock included four fours, departed earlier when he mistimed an attempted sweep off Raza and Wessly Madhevere darted forward to catch the ball.
Zimbabwe began disastrously in reply with fast medium pacer Young (4-24) taking the wickets of Bennett (eight), Tadiwanashe Marumani (one) and Madhevere (one) to leave the hosts reeling at 14-3.
Ryan Burl (27) and Raza (22) came to the rescue with a 48-run fourth-wicket partnership before both departed within six balls, and Zimbabwe were 64-5 midway through the innings.
A big innings was needed and Munyonga rose to the occasion, striking five fours in a 30-ball stand.
The only disappointment for the 26-year-old was falling two runs short of a career-best T20I knock.
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: ZimCricketv/X
