Paul Stirling shows the way forward
Stirling combines with Curtis Campher to knock off a low total and even up the ODI series
2nd ODI, Harare
Zimbabwe: 245 all out
Ireland: 249-4
Ireland win by six wickets
Paul Stirling (89) and Curtis Campher (63) combined to put on 144 and set Ireland up for a straightforward victory on Sunday, levelling the three-match ODI series ahead of Tuesday’s decider.
This came after Ireland once again chose to bowl at the toss, this time the pitch and conditions playing as expected in Harare. The early morning brought movement with the new ball, Ireland opening with Mark Adair and Graham Hume after Josh Little struggled on Friday.
Adair removed Bennett for 30, a substantially less damaging figure than his previous knock of 169, before Little returned at first change to get rid of the dangerous Craig Ervine.
Curtis Campher turned the game on its head with three wickets in five overs before Adair and Hume shut the door at the death. Ireland bowled Zimbabwe out for 245.
Chasing a low total, Ireland batted within themselves once again, doing what was required to prevent Zimbabwe from earning a way back into the game. The target was ultimately knocked off with eight balls remaining.
Here are the day’s talking points.
Campher’s annual salvo
Once a year, Curtis Campher puts in a performance which has him looking prime Freddie Flintoff (depending on your age or nationality, insert your favourite all-rounder here: Imran Khan, Jaques Kallis, Alex Cusack, Hardik Pandya, take your pick).
In 2021, it was the four wickets in as many balls against the Dutch at the T20 World Cup. 2022 brought another World Cup salvo where he combined with George Dockrell to rescue Ireland from an impending Scottish defeat. 2023 saw Campher respond to being dropped with a century during a World Cup qualifier. Who can forget the first ball reverse scoop against Shaheen Shah Afridi in 2024? Campher’s three-boundary cameo of 15 off just seven balls took Ireland to a famous victory over Pakistan in Clontarf.
Today, when Campher was thrown the ball in the 31st over, Zimbabwe were looking ok at 146-3. Sikandar Raza (then on 29) and Wessly Madhevere (58) were setting up a back-end assault to reach another total which could prove insurmountable.
When Campher was finished after five overs, he had taken three wickets at the cost of just 13 runs. Zimbabwe were now 183-6 and operating a damage limitation exercise heading into the final 10 overs.
The first wicket was a beauty. Campher kept dragging Madhevere across his stumps, finding some away-swing 30 overs in. The set batter got fed up being beaten on his outside edge. He walked outside off to fetch another swinging delivery. Only this one didn’t move, a likely cross-seamer holding its line and thudding into the pad. Up the finger went.
Next up, Johnathan Campbell was very unlucky. Although the false shot came from anticipating the ball moving in (Campbell is left handed), he still shouldn’t have been dismissed. Again, the ball held its line. It clipped Campbell’s pad on the way through to ‘keeper Lorcan Tucker. Ireland appealed, the umpire nodded.
The scorecard reads caught behind. A shocker of a decision, with Campbell beaten all ends up to the extent that his bat was nowhere near the ball. It also wouldn’t have been LBW, the contact with the pad coming well outside off.
You make your own luck, I suppose.
Two deliveries later, Campher required no good fortune. Marumani looked all at sea with the ball swinging into him (another lefty). He missed a straight one, this time the LBW decision was the correct one.
In the space of three overs, Campher had turned the game on its head. By removing Zimbabwe’s last recognised batters (Raza aside, who stood at the other end watching the chaos), he set Ireland up beautifully.
When Adair was bowling back-of-the-hand slower balls at the death, he was doing so to tail-enders, instead of set batters. When Hume was landing yorkers, he did so knowing the risk of a mistake being launched out of the park diminished based on the standard of the batters. These players are skilled enough as it is. Remove an element of jeopardy and they become all the more likely to succeed.
I recently bumped into someone who grew up in Johannesburg playing on the same underage representative teams as Campher. Like plenty back in South Africa, he is surprised at what Campher has gone onto achieve with Ireland. In all likelihood, he never would have had this success with his native country.
Campher’s overall numbers don’t jump off the page. He averages 34 with the bat and 37 with the ball in ODI cricket. Not bad, but not world-beating either.
He does, though, have that one dominating performance in him; a game which belies his numbers. It is a sign of something of a rare phenomenon; a player maximising every ounce of his talent.
Ireland are lucky his granny is from Derry. Campher is also fortunate he has this international platform to prove a few people wrong.
Sneaky Consistency
He hasn’t had a century since June 2023 - and even that was in a dead rubber qualifying match; his last meaningful 50-over 100 came in July 2022 - so it’s easy for form to slip under the radar. But after a lean couple of years for Ireland, is Paul Stirling returning to the fore? If he didn’t start cramping up in the 80s, he likely wouldn’t have thrown away an elusive century.
Still, after his 89 today, Ireland’s captain has now passed 50 three times in his last six ODIs. He is slowly becoming more of a consistent force.
He punched Blessing Muzarabani through cover point on his first delivery faced today. He later pulled for a maximum over mid-wicket. Those are his go-to shots off pace. When they are firing, more often than not Stirling is on song.
When he felt Ireland needed an injection to keep up with the required rate of five an over, Stirling twice walked down the track to find boundaries on the leg side. He then went back into his shell, happy to merely keep the scoreboard ticking knowing Ireland were not chasing a big total.
Campher, too, is worth mentioning after his knock of 63. Since moving up to number three in ODIs back in September 2023, he is averaging 35. It’s not a huge number, but it’s one higher than his career figure. In other words, his production has not diminished by moving into what many would consider a more difficult role. This experiment looks here to stay.
Batting approach (again…)
On Friday, when Ireland were chasing 300, I criticised the approach of batting within themselves to set the game up for the death. They more or less did the same thing here, Campher and Stirling putting on 144 off 170 deliveries. That is good for a strike rate of 85 from the two during that partnership.
Campher himself had an individual strike rate of 67. This after he put up a figure of 70 the other day.
Given Ireland were only chasing 246, it’s difficult to be too critical of a slightly subdued approach. Risk free cricket was the smart, if less entertaining option.
Still, plenty of white ball sides insist on calculated aggression no matter the match situation. There’s an argument to be made that Ireland can and should take the handbrake off. Taking that position after a straightforward victory is a difficult endeavour. One for another day perhaps.
What should be said, though, is how Stirling’s approach, striking around the 85 mark for most of his innings, is closer to the ideal than a figure in the 60s or 70s. Definitely the 50s, which is what we saw from Harry Tector on Friday.
To be fair to Tector, after taking 77 balls to find a boundary the other day, he sent the ball to the fence on just his third delivery today. He started walking down the track as early as his ninth ball faced. He departed for a cheap score when trying to drive a wider delivery in a bid to up the ante.
Watching Stirling bat, you wouldn’t say he was markedly more aggressive than any other Irish batter, but the numbers suggest he was. It’s only a subtle shift in intent which could well give Ireland a more dominant batting line-up.
Following the example of the captain would not be the worst idea in the world.
Zim-woes
Sometimes we fall into the trap of focusing too much on Ireland on this page. It’s worth highlighting how disappointing Zimbabwe were today.
Their display with the bat left a lot to be desired. Sure, Campher can often have golden arm status, but to lose all momentum because of Ireland’s sixth bowler will be a disappointment.
With the ball, Muzarabani offered Stirling his bread and butter shot first ball. The next delivery flew down the leg side for five wides. Muzarabani had his moments - again getting extra bounce to nick off Balbirnie - but for the most part he and Zimbabwe never looked like breaking Ireland’s lengthy partnership.
In the field, they once again put down chances. Richard Ngarava also lazily dove over a ball at long off. Why the big, stiff fast bowler was fielding in such an important position is worth questioning. You could also ask why Zimbabwe kept plenty of fielders on the rope with Ireland happy to tick off the runs in singles. Bring a man or two up and force them to take a risk, no?
Ireland were much-improved today. But Zimbabwe were dismal in equal measure.