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BELFAST – Monday was a near perfect start to the series for the Ireland Men’s cricket team – and for Shane Getkate personally, as the One-Day International debutant played a telling role for the side in their four-wicket win over Zimbabwe at Bready Cricket Club. The Northern Knights player contributed 2-33 with the ball and scored a vital 16 not out to help get the side over the line.
Getkate spoke after the game about his emotions throughout his ODI debut:

“There was obviously some nerves during your first over but after those six balls, you get into the game and it quickly becomes just another game that you play. It’s great to get a win, that’s my second ‘debut’ now [he made his T20 International debut in February] and we’ve got two wins, and that’s the most important thing.”

“Balbo [Andrew Balbirnie] and Stirlo [Paul Stirling] batted very well in the first ODI, and the bowlers bowled well as a unit, so it was a very good team performance.”

Getkate also had the pleasure of hitting the winning runs for his side, albeit not in the style you dream of:

“You don’t particularly want the winning runs going past the keeper! But you take it at the end of the day and it came on nicely under a bit of pressure. I enjoyed it as much as I could.”

Moving onto Thursday, Getkate insists that there is still a lot of improvement to come from this Irish side going into the second One Day game of the series:

“We’ve hopefully got to keep on improving and going into Thursday, we’ve got to try and put another win on the board and put them under pressure.”

And that will be Ireland’s aim, to claim the second ODI against Zimbabwe on Thursday in Belfast. If they do so, they will secure the three-match series.

However, Zimbabwe will not easily roll over and this will be a very tough test for the Irish side. The visitors can take confidence from Craig Ervine’s brilliant hundred, which was a well-constructed innings and emphasized how good his timing is. Ryan Burl also came into very good effect later in the innings, he scored an above a run a ball 49* to push Zimbabwe up to their of 254, which seemed around par at the halfway stage.

For Ireland, there were plenty of positives to take out of the win – Balbirnie and Stirling’s form most notable, however, the contributions of some of the younger players in the side were possibly more encouraging for Ireland’s future prospects. Mark Adair showed his wicket-taking abilities by bagging himself a four-wicket haul, while Lorcan Tucker looked assured behind the stumps all day, and also during his innings of 23. James McCollum too grew in confidence during his innings of 21 at the top of the order.

The second ODI in the Series is set to be a fascinating encounter, with play scheduled to begin at 10.45am and tickets available at the gate (under-16s go free).

Getkate bowling during the recent ODI at Bready
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