IRELAND’S CRICKET TEAM finished their tour of Zimbabwe with a win that confirmed their top 10 place in the world rankings.

The 20-run win in Harare was, however, academic after the hosts had won the first two one-day series but the victory at least recovers some pride for the tourists.

The Irish were bowled out for 244 just two balls shy of their 50 overs, with John Mooney hitting an unbeaten 55.

Captain William Porterfield weighed in with 46 and Andrew White hit 41, while Kevin O’Brien and George Dockrell took three wickets each.

Afterwards, Porterfield, quoted in the Belfast Telegraph, said:

We lost early wickets and that is something we have to address, but the lads coming in five, six, seven and eight have done a tremendous job throughout the series. We have been two or three down inside 10 overs, but the lower order has got us up to 240.

We will take great confidence from that going into the World Cup so when the top order do click we know we can put good totals on the board. We felt we let ourselves down in the first two matches so we wanted the win for ourselves. The rankings will look after themselves.

Ireland’s cricketers are now ahead of Zimbabwe in the One Day International rankings, the full table of which can be found here.