Stats - Zimbabwe remain winless at home since 2013

1

This is Ireland's first Test win after opting to bat first. Ireland were 31 for 5 at one stage, from where they recovered to register a win by 63 runs. In the 21st century, this is the third-lowest score for which a team lost half their side in the first innings (of the match) and then went on to win the contest. Pakistan were 21 for 5, but they toppled England in Dubai in 2012, while Sri Lanka recovered from 26 for 5 to win the Colombo Test against Australia in 2016.

3

Just 10 matches in, Ireland have completed a hat-trick of wins in Test cricket. They are the only side to amass three Test wins in a row within their first 10 Tests. Two of these wins have come against Zimbabwe against whom Ireland hold a 100% win record with two wins in two games.

Ireland also have the joint second-most Test wins for a team in their first 10 Tests, only behind Australia's tally of six wins. Ireland are also the only team with no draws in their first 10 Tests.

6 for 57

The left-arm orthodox spinner Matthew Humphrey took 6 for 57 in the second innings which is now the record for the best bowling figures by an Ireland bowler. He surpassed his spin-bowling partner, Andy McBrine who had picked up 6 for 118 against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2023.

127

McBrine and Mark Adair helped Ireland revive from 31 for 5 to post a first-innings total of 260. The duo added 127 runs for the seventh wicket, now the second-highest partnership for any wicket in Ireland's brief Test history.

11 years

Zimbabwe haven't won a Test at home since their 24-run victory over Pakistan in 2013, stretching their winless streak at home to 11 years.

Their last win in Bulawayo came in 2001 against Bangladesh, 20 Tests ago, the longest winless streak at a venue for any team. The next on this list is New Zealand with 17 matches without a win at the Eden Park in Auckland from 1959 to 1981.

90

Nick Welch scored a fighting 90 in Zimbabwe's first innings. Welch's effort is the third-highest score for a Zimbabwe batter on debut, only behind the century makers, Dave Houghton (121 vs India in 1992) and Hamilton Masakadza (119 vs West Indies in 2001). There is also Gary Ballance, who scored 137* against West Indies in 2023 in his first outing for Zimbabwe, albeit it was his 24th Test with the preceding 23 coming in an England shirt.

5

Andy Balbirnie's 66 in the second innings is his fifth 50-plus score, taking him one step ahead of McBrine, Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker (four each) for most 50-plus scores for Ireland in Test cricket.

106 runs and four wickets

With scores of 90* and 16, along with the bowling figures of 3 for 59 and 1 for 69, McBrine is the first Irish player to score over 100 runs and pick up four wickets in a Test. Consequently, he was adjudged the Player of the Match. He also won this award in Ireland's previous victory over Zimbabwe, making him the only Irish cricketer with more than one Player-of-the-Match award in Test cricket.