Toss Ireland chose to bowl vs Zimbabwe
Ireland chose to chase after the first T20I against Zimbabwe was shortened to nine overs a side due to rain in Harare.
The toss was delayed by more than two hours before Paul Stirling called correctly and asked Zimbabwe to bat.
Ireland were without opener Ross Adair, who scored a match-winning century against South Africa in their previous T20I in September last year, due to a calf injury that has ruled him out of the series. Neil Rock will open the innings but he will hand the wicketkeeping gloves to Lorcan Tucker, who returns to the XI.
Ross’ brother Mark Adair was also ruled out of the series with an injury picked up during the ODIs against Zimbabwe, and Ireland opted for a pace attack comprising Josh Little, Graham Hume and Craig Young, who replaced Adair in the squad. Little is playing his first T20I for Ireland since the 2024 T20 World Cup.
They also had Curtis Campher in their ranks as a seam-bowling option.
Brian Bennett, who struck a fantastic century in the first ODI, will continue to open for Zimbabwe alongside Tadiwanashe Marumani, while Dion Myers was replaced with allrounder Tony Munyonga. Ryan Burl was also back for Zimbabwe, with Faraz Akram making way from their last T20I XI, which was in December against Afghanistan.
There will be just three overs of powerplay for both teams.
Zimbabwe 1 Brian Bennett, 2 Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), 3 Wessly Madhevere, 4 Tashinga Musekiwa, 5 Sikandar Raza (capt), 6 Ryan Burl, 7 Wellington Masakadza, 8 Richard Ngarava, 9 Blessing Muzarabani, 10 Trevor Gwandu, 11 Tony Munyonga
Ireland 1 Paul Stirling (capt), 2 Neil Rock, 3 Curtis Campher, 4 Harry Tector, 5 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 6 George Dockrell, 7 Gareth Delany, 8 Ben White, 9 Graham Hume, 10 Josh Little, 11 Craig Young
