Ireland confident of causing another upset

For the cricket romantic, there is nothing to beat the feeling of an underdog overcoming a major opponent, but the most absorbing cricket happens most often between closely matched sides. That's certainly been the case with Ireland and Zimbabwe, who sit next to each other at the bottom of cricket's top table and have produced several truly engaging contests. Ireland have the added incentive of one-upping a Test side to further their own goals as a cricketing nation.

"It's a series away from home against a team that's ranked very close to us, so it's important because we want to keep progressing up the ladder," Ireland captain William Porterfield said ahead of the first ODI. "If we can get a series win here it's going to be great for ourselves and great for cricket in Ireland, and also good to put points on the board in terms of rankings. We're pretty similar on the table and they've generally been close games, here in Harare and at the World Cup, and we've had a tie as well. Both teams are pretty confident coming into this series that they can get that series win."