Zimbabwe women’s cricket team made a fantastic start to their ODI journey as they defeated Ireland by four wickets on Tuesday. Zimbabwe received the ODI status from the ICC in April 2021. Zimbabwe is hosting Ireland for a four-match ODI series that will be played from October 5 to October 11 at the Harare Sports Club.
Winning the toss and electing to bowl first, Zimbabwe restricted Ireland to 253-8 in 50 overs. Chasing a competitive target of 254 against a relatively stronger side was not going to be easy for Zimbabwe, who were making their debut in ODI cricket. Quite contrary to the expectations, Zimbabwe made light work of the chase as they raced to 254-6 in just 43.5 overs. Winning their first-ever ODI by four wickets and 37 balls to spare made the match historic for Zimbabwe women’s cricket.
SPECIAL KNOCK TO START THE HISTORIC SERIES!💯
Captain Mary Anne Musonda has scripted history, becoming the first Zimbabwean female player to score an ODI Century.
Zimbabwe has defeated Ireland by 4 wickets in their first-ever Official ODI Game.#Zimbabwe #ZIMvIRE @Mutsa13 pic.twitter.com/kagrwAAd1A
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 5, 2021
Leading from the front was their skipper Mary-Anne Musonda, who smashed 103 runs off 114 balls to steer her side home. The 30-year old right hand bat played some breathtaking shots during her unbeaten innings. Coming in at number 4, when her team was struggling at 25-2 in 5.2 overs, Musonda joined forces with Ashley Ndiraya (24) to stitch a 57-run partnership for the third wicket to steady the ship. After Ndiraya departed, the skipper partnered with Pellagia Mujaji (16) to put together 60 runs for the fourth wicket. Musonda was involved in the third 50+ partnership of the innings with Josephine Nkomo (25) as the duo put together 55 runs for the fifth wicket.
Musonda led by example as she shouldered the responsibility of the chase and took the onus on her to guide her team to victory. Her innings was peppered with nine boundaries. Despite a relatively low boundary percentage, the 30-year-old had a healthy strike rate of 90.35, which suggests that she rotated the strike well during her knock. Mary-Anne Musonda created history as she became the first woman cricketer of Zimbabwe to register an ODI century. The fact that her century helped the team win over Ireland made her innings more special.
The second ODI between Zimbabwe and Ireland will be played on Thursday at the Harare Sports Club, Harare. Zimbabwe lead the four-match ODI series 1-0.
#ICYMI, Ireland women tour of Zimbabwe is underway and the 2nd ODI is to be played tomorrow on 7th October 2021. #ZIMvIRE • @zimbabwe_women pic.twitter.com/B4t3J80b78
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 6, 2021
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.