Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's South Africa correspondent
Zimbabwe choose to bowl; William McClintock debuts for Ireland, who make three changes
Written by I Dig Sports
Published in
Cricket
Wednesday, 01 September 2021 07:15
Zimbabwe choose to bowl vs Ireland
Ireland rung in the changes for the third T20I against Zimbabwe, with three tweaks to the XI that levelled the series on Sunday.
William McClintock became their second debutant of the series after Neil Rock was given his first cap in the opening match, and will slot into the middle order in place of Harry Tector. Mark Adair makes his first appearance of the tour after missing the first two matches while recovering from back spams, while Josh Little also returns to the XI. Craig Young and Barry McCarthy, who enjoyed success against Zimbabwe in the first two matches, have been swapped out.
Despite their seven-wicket defeat in the second match, Zimbabwe have stuck with with same XI which they used for the first two matches. That leaves no room for the experience of Brendan Taylor, but aims to build consistency in a young group.
Both captains were keen for their bowlers to make use first of the pitch under cloudy skies in Bready. It is expected to be a slightly quicker surface that the one in Clontarf, where run-scoring was laboured in the first match.
Ireland: 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Kevin O'Brien, 3 Andy Balbirnie (capt), 4 William McClintock, 5 George Dockrell, 6 Neil Rock (wk), 7 Shaun Getkate, 8 Simi Singh, 9 Mark Adair, 10 Josh Little, 11 Ben White
Zimbabwe: 1 Wessley Madhevere, 2 Tadiwanashe Marumani, 3 Regis Chakabva (wk), 4 Dion Myers, 5 Craig Ervine (capt), 6 Milton Shumba, 7 Ryan Burl, 8 Luke Jongwe, 9 Wellington Masakadza, 10 Tendai Chatara, 11 Richard Ngarava