Ireland on top against Zimbabwe in historic Test
Mark Adair congratulates wicket-taker Curtis Campher at Stormont on Thursday
- Published
Only Test (day one of five), Stormont
Zimbabwe: 210: Masvaure 74, Gumbie 49; McBrine 3-37, McCarthy 3-42
Ireland: Yet to bat
Zimbabwe lead Ireland by 210 runs
Ireland reduced Zimbabwe from 121-1 to 210 all out to finish day one of the one-off Test match in Belfast in a strong position.
Prince Masvaure (74) and debutant Joylord Gumbie (49) provided a good start for the Chevrons in the first Test to be played in Northern Ireland.
Zimbabwe were still in good shape on 143-2 before an afternoon collapse which included four wickets for only four runs.
Andy McBrine (3-37) and Barry McCarthy (3-32) were the best of the Irish attack on a historic occasion at Stormont.
Rain brought an early end to play with Ireland to start their reply on Friday morning.
It is just Ireland's second Test on home soil while Stormont became the 123rd ground to stage a Test match.
Irish skipper Andy Balbirnie won the toss and with overcast conditions he opted to bowl first.
It looked to be the wrong decision as Masvaure and Gumbie put on 97 for the first wicket.
Prince Masvaure hit eight boundaries as he top-scored for Zimbabwe
Gumbie fell to McCarthy one run shy of a half-century after lunch and Dion Myers was next to go for nine.
The runs which came so easily in the morning dried up and the pressure told as the wickets tumbled.
Craig Young removed skipper Craig Ervine (five) before Curtis Campher claimed the big wicket of Masvaure.
Sean Williams added 35 but that was the last score in double figures and he was the first of McBrine's three wickets.
The spinner went on to take two wickets in two balls and there was only token resistance from the tail as Zimbabwe posted a disappointing total.
Ireland ended the day on a high and they will be eager to put early runs on the board when play resumes.
"It was a very good end to the day - I thought they played really well in the first session," said McBrine.
"It shows the character we have in the squad the way we fought back. The way Barry bowled and Craig bowled in the afternoon session and how we finished it off at the end - it was very good."
