Raza magic: Chevrons off to a flyer

Ireland’s campaign at the Men’s T20 World Cup got off to a disappointing start as Sikandar Raza inspired Zimbabwe to a 31-run victory in Hobart.

Ireland slumped to 22-4 off 3.5 overs and never recovered, finishing well short on 143-9.

Scotland shocked two-time winners West Indies in the earlier Group B match.

“I am bitterly disappointed with how we’ve started the competition but it is a pretty simple shootout for us now,” said Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie.

“We want to go out and play decent cricket but we have to be aware that Zimbabwe will play well as well and we have to counter that. There will definitely be some learnings.”

Craig Ervine, who captained Zimbabwe in their first World Cup game since 2016, said: “We are ecstatic. To put up a performance like that in our first game back in a World Cup shows we belong here and it is a pity that it has been so long since we last played in one.”

Ireland face Scotland in their next match on Wednesday (05:00 BST), knowing they must win to keep alive their hopes of progressing. West Indies must also do the same against Zimbabwe (09:00).

The top two sides from each group will qualify for the Super 12s, which start on 22 October. The winner of Group A and runner-up from Group B will face England.

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Raza puts his hand up but Ireland short with bat

Despite seeing West Indies fail to chase successfully earlier, Balbirnie decided he wanted to do the same in this game, and Ireland started well with the ball.

Left-armer Josh Little, who impressed for Manchester Originals in The Hundred this summer, struck twice as Ireland continued their impressive powerplay record.

Normally sides who lose three wickets in the powerplay go on to lose the game, but that stat does not account for performances like Raza’s.

The right-hander treated the Irish bowling with disdain, hitting five sixes. He pulled away regularly, hitting 53 of his runs through mid-wicket and square leg.

Ireland took regular wickets, but the fact they were unable to get Raza, who averages 62.42 since July, until the final ball allowed Zimbabwe to post their record World Cup score.

The chase could not have got off to a worse start with Paul Stirling bowled off the second ball, before Lorcan Tucker followed in the third.

Harry Tector and Balbirnie then failed to handle the probing line and extra bounce that Blessing Muzarabani found, with both nicking off to first slip, to effectively end the game.

Although Curtis Campher made 27 and George Dockrell – who was bowled by Raza – and Gareth Delany both added 24 it never felt like Ireland were going to pull off the chase.

Zimbabwe, who have now won eight of their last nine T20 games, were good with the ball, bowling stump to stump regularly, but dropped catches did creep in towards the back end, and against better opposition that could prove costly.

Man-of-the-match Raza said: “I said about trying to take the team as far as we could. The only thought in my head was to just bat – I didn’t allow any emotions to get the better of me.

“There is no secret [to his form]. The only secret I can tell you is try to channel all the emotions of the success and failure into the right way so we can compete against the best in the world.

“We were happy to qualify but we knew our journey wasn’t done. The goal we brought was to get into the Super 12s so to get this victory is humbling and exciting.”   – bbc.com