Andrew Balbirnie's fifth ODI hundred helped Ireland beat Zimbabwe by four wickets in the first ODI at Bready. Chasing 255 the 28 year-old hit 9 fours and 2 sixes in his 101 from 112 balls, sharing a second wicket partnership of 105 with Paul Stirling.

Balbirnie and Stirling - whose 57 saw him pass the half century mark for the fifth consecutive ODI - have been Ireland's two best players since the retirement of Ed Joyce, and their effortless stand took Ireland to 133 for 1 with few alarms. However, the dismissal of Stirling was followed quickly by the wickets of skipper William Porterfield and Kevin O'Brien and the game was very much in the balance.

Balbirnie together with fellow Pembroke man Lorcan Tucker added 64 for the fifth wicket to put the Irish back in command. Despite another wobble when Tucker was caught in the deep hooking, and Balbirnie run out after misjudging a single, the Irish clinched the win thanks to boundaries at crucial times for Mark Adair (21*) and Shane Getkate (13*).

Mazakadza trapped lbw (©CricketEurope)

Earlier the pair had played a crucial part with the ball - Adair taking four wickets including two early breakthroughs, one of which was the dangerous Hamilton Mazakadza. Getkate, on his ODI debut picked up 2 for 33 including Brendan Taylor, while Andy McBrine, Paul Stirling and Tim Murtagh also took a wicket apiece.

Former Lisburn and Northern Knights batsman Craig Ervine scored an excellent 105 to keep Zimbabwe in the game, while Ryan Burl's hard-hit 49 took them to nearly a par total. "It was enjoyable, a win is always that way," said centurion Andy Balbirnie afterwards. "Paul and I batted well together, I think we really complement each other well – he strikes the ball so cleanly, and early on I just tried to rotate the strike. It's a shame he got out when he did as we lost a bit of the momentum.

Straight drive by Shane Getkate (©CricketEurope)

"But the fight shown by the guys coming in at the end was great – especially Mark and Shane there to finish the job off. Mark particularly was very impressive, he hits the ball as clean as anyone, and I thought he was exceptional today with the ball as well. He's settling well into the squad and he gives us a bit of that X-factor as well. "Zimbabwe are a good team but I thought the score was about par or a bit below, as the outfield was very quick and it was as good a wicket as I've played on here.

"I think looking ahead we can learn from last series against Afghanistan when we went one up and then we didn't perform in the second. We'll be desperate to train well and put in another good performance in the next ODI."