Zimbabwe seal series with Ben Curran's century

Zimbabwe produced a clinical all-round performance in the third and final ODI against Ireland in Harare to register a thumping nine-wicket win, thereby pocketing the series 2-1.

Opting to bowl, the hosts put on a disciplined effort led by their seamers Richard Ngarava (2-42), Blessing Muzarabani (1-47) and Trevor Gwandu (2-44) to keep Ireland to an under-par total of 240 on a surface that was tacky initially. Later on, a fine hundred from Ben Curran (118*) along with able support acts from Craig Ervine (69*) and Brian Bennett (48) made sure that the chase was done with 63 balls to spare.

Ireland's innings revolved around fifties from Andy Balbirnie (64), Lorcan Tucker (61) and Harry Tector (51). There was some help for the quicks in the first hour or so, as is the norm with the morning starts in Harare. Ngarava struck early to end Paul Stirling's scratchy stay at the crease while Gwandu removed Curtis Campher shortly after to have Ireland at 42/2 in the 14th over. The situation called for a rebuild and that's what the Balbirnie-Tector stand did in their partnership of 86. However, in the course of doing so, they were also a bit too cautious in their approach.

Considering that the surface gets better through the day and in the afternoon, Ireland needed a total in excess of 260 or perhaps 270 to make a game of this. Balbirnie and Tector did the right thing to take their time initially but delayed their charge quite a bit. It also didn't help the team's cause that both fell just as they were putting their foot on the accelerator. Still, Ireland had a decent platform of 168/4 with ten overs left and given the depth in their hitting, there was scope for a good flourish.

Tucker was the only batter who got going from the word go and excelled in the slog overs as well, along with Mark Adair (26 off 23) but Zimbabwe's death bowling was extremely precise. As much as Ireland's batters struggled with their intent, Zimbabwe's bowlers also used the pitch and pace variations to good effect. Eventually, the 240-run mark was also breached with a bit of struggle in the final over. It was always going to be a difficult total to defend with the surface easing out.

The way Curran and Bennett batted in the first PowerPlay would have further rubbed salt into the Irish wounds as 77 came in the first ten overs. The southpaw was the aggressor and he also got to his fifty in the final over of the PowerPlay. Bennett also went at nearly run-a-ball but it was Curran whose strokeplay dominated proceedings. A brief rain delay around the 17-over mark was probably Ireland's only chance of escaping defeat but that rain break was shortlived. Soon after resumption, Bennett fell just short of a fifty to give some respite to the visitors.

However, Ervine continued from where he had left off in the previous ODI and combined for an unbeaten 122-run stand with Curran to complete the formalities. The Zimbabwe captain was in full flow from the get-go and motored along to his second fifty of the series. Curran, meanwhile, completed a deserving ton as the duo made light work of the target leaving Ireland to rue their poor intent with the bat during critical stages of their innings.

Brief scores:Ireland 240/6 in 50 overs (Andy Balbirnie 64, Lorcan Tucker 61; Richard Ngarava 2-42) lost to Zimbabwe 246/1 in 39.3 overs (Ben Curran 118*, Craig Ervine 69*, Brian Bennett 48) by nine wickets