What’s going on in Belfast?
Ask anyone and you’ll get a different answer. Close to Windsor Park, you might be told about the UEFA U19 EUROs that are reaching their conclusion – but there’s lots going on elsewhere too. It’s Belfast Pride Week, it’s Belfast Whiskey Week and, weather permitting: it’s Belfast’s first Test match.
Today, at least, there was almost a full day of cricket – though ominous grey clouds filled the sky as Andrew Balbirnie won the toss and threw Zimbabwe in to bat.
Early on, it seemed the day would be hard graft for Irish bowlers – Joylord Gumbie, finally making his t
Test debut at the age of 28, soared to 26 after a succession of boundaries – some intentional, some more fortunate.
The Zimbabwe openers rocketed ahead to 76-0, but scoring slowed considerably as the afternoon began. Lunch was called after 27 overs with Zimbabwe on 85 for no loss, but Gumbie was left to stew over the lunch break on 49 runs.
One run shy of a debut Test half century, Gumbie looked nervous when he and Prince Masvaure returned to the crease – and left most of the strike and all of the scoring to his batting partner. When Gumbie did find himself on strike for a succession of deliveries, he crumbled – with Barry McCarthy’s ball being tipped to Curtis Campher in the field, giving the Irish their breakthrough four overs into the afternoon session.
One sympathises with Joylord Gumbie, and when the players went off for rain two overs later his fellow opener Prince Masvaure found himself in similar circumstance – forced to wait on a precarious 47 runs during the enforced interval. When play resumed, he too endured a shaky start – but was eventually able to consummate his half century, ultimately falling for 71 after a mature, defensive display.
Heavy rains had been forecast from 3pm, instead we got the best bit of weather the day would see – and as the weather picked up so did the Irish bowling.
Craig Young bowled like a man with a point to prove after concerns about his selection, and was rewarded with the wicket of Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine, but all of Ireland’s seam bowlers played their part in a tremendously vindicating afternoon for the Irish attack. Barry McCarthy took the first two wickets of the day and finished with three, Mark Adair took two and the ever-consistent Curtis Campher, Irish cricket’s Paolo Ferreira, came away with a wicket as well. All will be rightly proud of their performance as Ireland tore into the hapless Zimbabwe batters all afternoon.
Much had been made in the build-up to this Test of Ireland’s spin bowling. Between them, Andy McBrine and Theo van Woerkom managed just one wicket in the two innings of Ireland’s first Test victory in March – with much improvement expected as the test side returned to home soil today. Matthew Humphreys, replacing the effectively retired Theo van Woerkom, didn’t bowl an over today – and after Andy McBrine appeared for a cameo spell of two drab overs before lunch in a failed attempt to break the deadlock, things didn’t look promising. As the day went on however, McBrine played a much larger role – sinking his teeth into Zimbabwe’s lower order and coming away with three deserved wickets. Ireland’s spin has often failed to impress, but there was reason here to be hopeful.
As McBrine and Co ran rampant, the final Zimbabwean tailenders attempted to cling on – no doubt hoping the long-promised downpour would arrive and grant them a reprieve. No such luck, with the rain arriving only minutes after final batsman Tendai Chatara’s wicket fell.
Those same tailenders will have hoped to bowl a few overs at Ireland’s openers in the fading light, but the rain would not relent – and we finished the day there.
Zimbabwe will reflect on their innings with gloom, never proving able to replicate the success of their opening partnership. The remarkable collapse from 95-0 to 210 all out was unfortunate, but did not sour the mood of Zimbabwe’s loud and enthusiastic fans at Stormont. Most of Zimbabwe’s middle order threw away their wickets cheaply, but Clive Madande in particular will be disappointed with his contribution – opening his innings against Andy McBrine with an ill-advised lob that found the waiting hands of Craig Young, sending him out first ball. It is now for the bowlers to salvage something from this tie tomorrow – you never quite know which Ireland is going to turn up to bat, there is hope for Zimbabwe yet.
The weather in Belfast continues to fluctuate between clear blue skies and torrential showers, but tomorrow, at some stage, Irish captain Andrew Balbirnie and former Zimbabwe international turned Irish opener PJ Moor will make their way to the crease to begin Ireland’s response to Zimbabwe’s total of 210. Fans tomorrow will hopefully be better prepared for the peculiarities of this Belfast summer – a few fans brought sun cream, others umbrellas – no one predicted that we would need both.
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