International Cricket

ZIM vs IRE 1st T20I Malahide: Sikandar Raza Middle-Overs Recap

Anjali Iyer 19 May 2026 Updated 19 May 2026 ~5 min read ~805 words

Sikandar Raza celebrating a wicket at Malahide for Zimbabwe's 1st T20I against Ireland

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Malahide on May 18 gave Zimbabwe exactly the conditions they needed and Sikandar Raza exactly the match he keeps producing. Zimbabwe defended 168 by 14 runs, and the difference was a middle-overs window between the 11th and the 16th over where Raza took 2 for 18 with the ball after scoring 38 off 21 with the bat. Ireland had been 89 for 2 after 10 overs, ahead of the chase rate. They finished 154 for 8, undone by a left-arm/off-spin combination that exploited a slow second-innings strip and a chase template that lacked a six-hitting bridge between Paul Stirling's power play and the death.

Raza's 38 off 21, the gear-shift innings

Zimbabwe had wobbled at 71 for 3 after 9.2 overs when Raza walked in. His first six balls were a calibration: two singles, a dot, a clipped two, a paddle for one, a single. Then he opened up. He hit Mark Adair for back-to-back sixes in the 12th over, the second over long-on off a slower-ball cutter that sat up at 122 kph. Raza's strike rate after his fifteenth ball was 181, and the partnership of 67 in 7.1 overs with Brian Bennett took Zimbabwe from a sub-par projection of 145 to a defendable 168. The lap-sweep was the lock. Raza scored 16 off the four balls he played that shot to in the back-half, hitting Curtis Campher and Josh Little for four with the same shot to a different leg-side line. Field setting from George Dockrell was reactive rather than proactive, which Raza punished.

The 11-to-16 over middle-overs squeeze

Ireland needed 80 from 60 at the start of the 11th over with eight wickets in hand. Raza came on in the 12th and his first three overs read 18-3-3, an economy of 6.00 that, given Ireland's required rate, played as a strangle. He bowled the off-spinner with the wider angle to the left-handers, taking pace off the ball at 84 kph rather than the standard 86. Lorcan Tucker fell to a top-edged sweep, and Harry Tector mistimed a slog-sweep to short fine leg where Wessly Madhevere held a low catch. The dot percentage in this window was 47, and Ireland scored 24 off the five overs against a par of 38. By the time Raza was done, Ireland needed 36 off 18 with six wickets gone.

Stirling's power play and the chase template

Paul Stirling's 46 off 27 was the platform Ireland have built around all calendar year: 60 plus inside ten in seven of their last nine completed T20Is. The Malahide chase followed the script through ten. The problem, as data analyst Ger Siggins noted on the Cricket Ireland post-match feed, is the absence of a six-hitting bridge between Stirling and the death overs. Ireland's 11-to-16 strike rate in this calendar year is 119, the lowest among the eight Associate sides that played five-plus T20Is. Raza's spell exposed it.

Bennett, Madhevere and the Zimbabwe order shape

Brian Bennett's 41 off 28 and Wessly Madhevere's late 19 off 11 were the supporting acts that made 168 defendable. Bennett's ramp against Adair in the 17th over fetched four behind the keeper and set up Madhevere's charge in the 19th. Zimbabwe's 1-to-7 has been a moving piece all year. Captain Craig Ervine has settled on Bennett at three and Raza at five, with Madhevere as the floating finisher. The Malahide template will travel to Belfast on Wednesday.

What it means

Raza is in the kind of patch where his name on the team sheet is the difference between a defendable and a winnable 165. Zimbabwe lead 1-0 with two to play, and Belfast's slightly bouncier square should suit Blessing Muzarabani's new-ball plan. Ireland will look at the 11-to-16 window first. They have done this calculation before and the answer keeps coming back the same: they need a left-hander at five who can hit the ball over mid-wicket. Watch Tim Tector or Theo van Woerkom for the Wednesday XI.