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HARARE, Zimbabwe – In another very tight game, the home side managed to edge themselves over the line to take the third Youth ODI and claim the series 3-0.

Ireland won the toss and opted to bat first in bright conditions in the final game of the series at the famous Harare Sports Club.

There were three changes from Game Two on Saturday, back in came captain Oliver Riley, Febin Manoj and Ethan Marshall in the places of Reuben Wilson, Thomas Ford and Sebastian Yeates.

Ireland found themselves in trouble early on with the dismissals of openers James West and Freddie Ogibly.

Then with the further removal of Robert O’Brien and Sebastian Dijkstra at 93-4 things began to look to very challenging for the visitors after looking the first two opening games of the five-match series.

At 115-7, things looked even trickier. However Daniel Murray (90 off 98), aided by Oliver Riley and Febin Manoj, helped carry Ireland to 235 but just missed on what would have been a remarkable hundred under the circumstances.

In response, Zimbabwe got off to a very strong start through their top order. Early wickets from Adam Leckey slowly brought the visitors back into the contest.

But it was Ireland’s spinners Dijkstra and Manoj who began to cause problems for the home side taking crucial breakthroughs and building pressure.

Regular wickets kept things extremely tight until Brandon Ndiweni eventually helped get his side across the line with a very handy 29 runs off 35 balls.

On the overall performance today from Ireland, Daniel Murray said: “I think it’s a really positive, especially working towards the World Cup that we showed the fight we did to really get back in the game. It was really tight and really could have gone either way at the very end”.

Murray also added: “It was also really impressive on the bowling front, the spinners really brought it back in the middle which is a great sign for us”.

Game Four of the series takes place on Thursday, 7 April 2025, at Takashinga Cricket Club, Harare.

MATCH SUMMARY

Ireland Under-19 Men v Zimbabwe Under-19 Men, 3rd Youth ODI, Harare Sports Club, Zimbabwe – 7 April 2025

Ireland 235 (49.4 over; D Murray 90, A Leckey 52;  R Moyo 3-39)

Zimbabwe 236-8 (38.4 over; L Chiwaula 44; S Dijkstra 2-28, A Leckey 2-30)

Zimbabwe Under-19s Men won by two wickets