Zimbabwe vs Ireland, Only Test at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe vs Ireland, Feb 06 2025 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Balbirnie accepts the trophy and then his Ireland team-mates join him for photos. They now pose behind the board that says "WINNERS" and cheers ring around the Queens Sports Club. Well done Ireland, commiserations to Zimbabwe. That is not all from this tour. The two teams indulge in three ODIs followed by three T20Is. The first ODI is on February 14 in Harare. We'll be on for that, so do join us for that. Before that, you can check out Ekanth's report here soon. On behalf of him and our scorer Harshith, this is Sudarshanan signing off. Goodbye, take care! Ciao, aficionados!

10:52am Time for the presentations

Andy McBrine, Player of the Match: "[Approach at 31 for 5] Kept it very simple as possible. Blessing started well, got extra bounce. But we batted well. We got a few partnerships, tried to keep ourselves going, that worked out."

Johnathan Campbell, Zimbabwe captain: "Bless bowled well upfront, lots of ifs and buts but we did not bat well in the first innings. The bowlers bowled well all Test match. We let it slip with the bat. A couple of good individual performance but lacked cohesiveness. Reflect individually, I gave it away in the second innings, kicked myself for it. [Madhevere] He had a fighting knock, Nick in his first match. There's exciting talent in Zimbabwe, we are not far off. Ireland are a well-formed unit, they stuck in there, hung in there. McBrine hung in there, we need to find a way to get him out."

Andy Balbirnie, Ireland captain: "Very rewarding. Test cricket is tough. To go into five days, with weather around. We love Test cricket as a team, need to work hard. To do it a couple of times in the last two series is great. All our seamers worked hard, took wickets at key time. Humphreys was superb, McBrine does it every time he wears the Irish jersey. [Winning first three Tests] Just waiting for the DVD to come out! We are desperate to play, we don't know when our next Test match is. We had a long winter, prepped in Dubai. Our guys have been brought up on one day and T20 cricket but they prepared well. Sometimes it won't go our way but happy with how it is going."

10:40am Heartbreak for Zimbabwe as Ireland win by 63 runs. A superb bowling show from Ireland this. A chase of 292 with over two days left, Zimbabwe could have fancied it given there was not much on the surface. But Ireland kept at it with some disciplined bowling. Inclement weather threatened the victory charge but they made enough inroads in the pockets of play yesterday and ran throw the lower order today to finish the job. This is their third Test win in a row

Ireland's bowling charge was led by Humphreys, the left-arm spinner. He struck early in the dying moments of day three and then broke the back of the middle order yesterday. Today, he bowled well with the old and new ball to pick two more, including that of Zimbabwe's hero Madhevere. As long as he was in the middle, the hosts were in with an unlikely chance. But Humphreys attacked the stumps constantly to ask the right questions and return with the best Test figures for Ireland

David : "Marco as an Irish fan can I thank you so very much.If you support Zim you have my commiserations."