Zimbabwe, Ireland wary in high-stakes game

Eight years ago this month, Ireland became world cricket's good news story. In their first World Cup, they beat Pakistan and qualified for the Super Eights in the Caribbean, going on to add victory against Bangladesh later in the tournament. It was a remarkable emergence for a side that had played its first ODI just a year before. But really, it all began against Zimbabwe at Sabina Park.

William Porterfield, now Ireland's captain, was out in the first over of his nation's World Cup debut, but Jeremy Bray scored a century and Zimbabwe were set a target of 222. At 203 for 5, Zimbabwe seemed set for victory against the newest so-called minnow. Then Brendan Taylor was run out off a deflection from the bowler's hand, Zimbabwe collapsed, and the match was tied.

"I remember that very well," Taylor said. "I remember the last ball, Stu Matsikenyeri was on 70-odd not out and he got a low full toss and he missed it. I'm sure he's kicking himself. We all kicked ourselves. There was a chance for Ireland to win and there was a chance for us to win."

Now, Zimbabwe and Ireland are about to meet in a World Cup for the first time since that memorable encounter. Two days after that tie, Ireland enjoyed their St Patrick's Day victory over Pakistan; Zimbabwe know what it's like to come up against Ireland on the national day, having lost to them in a tight World T20 game in Bangladesh on March 17 last year.

"We're not taking them lightly - they're a quality side when they're going good guns," Taylor, Zimbabwe's stand-in captain in the absence of the injured Elton Chigumbura, said. "Fortunately it's not St Patrick's Day as well."

When Hobart residents glanced at their city's fixtures when the World Cup schedule was released, they might have viewed the Ireland-Zimbabwe clash as an unimportant match. Far from it. Zimbabwe have to win to keep their tournament alive; if Ireland win they have a decent chance of progressing, notwithstanding the hit to their net run-rate from their heavy loss to South Africa.

"I don't even know our run-rate at the minute," Porterfield said. "Everything is in our hands in terms of wins. Tomorrow is no different. We've gone into every game looking for those two points, and we're two from three. We're going into tomorrow looking to make that three from four."

Ireland have one more win than Zimbabwe and one extra game in hand, meaning the pressure on the Zimbabweans might be ramped up that little bit more. It is a case of ICC Full Member versus Associate, but the gap between the sides does not appear significant. Remarkably, given they are the 10th and 11th ranked sides, they have not met in an ODI for four and a half years.

"We haven't played them a heck of a lot," Porterfield said. "The last series we played may've been 2010. We've come up against them in a couple of games, warm-up games for competitions ... but yeah, if you look at the tables you'd suggest we'd be quite close together."

Ireland have the advantage of a steady line-up, whereas Zimbabwe have been forced to alter their balance due to the injury to Chigumbura. Regis Chakabva has been included as the replacement for Chigumbura, and Taylor said the batting needed to lift if Zimbabwe were to post the convincing win they believed was possible to keep them in the tournament.

"We've been playing some good cricket, 80% of the games we've been playing winning cricket and then probably just letting it slip in that other 20%," Taylor said. "If we can narrow that gap a little bit, we're going to be a lot more consistent and get over the line a lot more often.

"There's been times where we haven't batted our 50 overs and that's hurt us ... We've not been ruthless enough in terms of kicking on as batters. We're all aware of that. We keep emphasising the importance of one of the top four batting through, get 130, 140.

"That puts you in a winning position, and we haven't been able to do that. Guys have got bits and pieces, getting out at crucial times and we're not batting our 50 overs. Those are the main areas that we've discussed."

Taylor is one of five Zimbabwe batsmen who have scored half-centuries so far in this World Cup, but the highest individual score was the 80 that Hamilton Masakadza posted in the first-up loss to South Africa. No Ireland batsman has yet scored a hundred in this tournament either, but Taylor knows how dangerous they can be.

"They're a hungry team, they're a team that's very passionate," Taylor said. "When you give them half a sniff they try and capitalise and make it pretty difficult for you, so it's important we strike early with bat or ball, maintain that momentum."