Rain ruined the deciding ODI between Zimbabwe and visiting Ireland as the match at Harare Sports Club on Monday was abandoned.
With everything at stake in the decider, Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine won the toss, opted to bat and his side made 55-1 in 13 overs when play was halted, never to resume.
Ervine felt his side had done well to put themselves in a strong position in the event the match resumed after the rain.
“Obviously we wanted to come out and be positive and we showed a fair amount of intent with the short innings that we had this morning. We knew that ideally the rain would come into play and we knew that we needed to have the wickets in hand just in case rain came and played a part,” Ervine said during the post-match Press conference.
“You always know how Duckworth Lewis works if you have lost quite a few wickets, its just one of the things I thought we did well. Had we come back onto the field we would have been in a decent position, having lost just one wicket.”
With no result being declared in the final match, the three-match series ended level at 1-1, with Ireland’s Harry Tector named Player of the Series.
“We have been fortunate to play decent one-day international cricket over the last while and it was good to continue that here,” said Tector.
“It was a tough competitive series, both in the T20 and one-day games, and we have a great relationship with Zimbabwe Cricket so long may that continue.”
The home team won a rain-affected first match by three wickets and lost the second by 46 runs. Zimbabwe won the preceding T20I series 2-1.
After the limited-overs matches against Ireland, Zimbabwe will now turn their attention to the longer version of the game when they host West Indies for a two-match Test series at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo next month.
Zimbabwe last pulled over the whites against Bangladesh in a single Test in Harare back in July 2021, losing by 220 runs to the Asian side.
West Indies will start the tour with a four-day warm-up game against a local side, scheduled for January 28 to 31 at the Bulawayo Athletic Club.
The first Test is slated for February 4-8 and the second for February 12-16, both starting at 10am local time.
ZIMBABWE: Innocent Kaia, Chamu Chibhabha, Craig Ervine (capt), Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Tadiwanashe Marumani (wkt), Luke Jongwe, Wellington Masakadza, Brad Evans, Brandon Mavuta, Richard Ngarava
IRELAND: Paul Stirling (capt), Stephen Doheny, Murray Commins, Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, Lorcan Tucker (wkt), George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Graham Hume, Josh Little