Paul Stirling’s dream of becoming the first Ireland captain to win a series in Zimbabwe was dealt a blow at the Harare Sports Club last night as his side suffered a last-ball defeat in the first of three T20 internationals.

A rusty batting display relied on a turbo start and finish to lift the Boys in Green to a barely respectable 147/8 but an inside edge past the wicketkeeper by last man Blessing Muzarabani took the home side to a thrilling one-wicket victory in an ill-tempered clash.

Ireland paceman Josh Little exchanged words with Sean Williams after forcing the veteran to play on and then clashed again with Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza in an incident that required the umpires to step between players.

All-rounder Raza, who took 3-28, seemed to be leading his side to a comfortable win before he was well held by Stirling for 65, amid a clatter of late wickets that left the hosts needing nine from the final over and two from the last ball.

“It was a brilliant game,” Stirling said. “You can point the loss at different directions: certainly we lost wickets at crucial times. We should have got 160 and we’ll look at that and come back better.”

After losing his first toss as official white-ball captain, Stirling had helped his predecessor Andy Balbirnie add 44 for the first wicket before he was adjudged lbw for 14.

Balbirnie, who struck four fours and a six from eight balls as the Boys in Green rocketed to 38/0 from three overs, quickly followed, bowled behind his legs by Raza for 32 from 25 balls.

The early pyrotechnics gave way to far too many swings-and-misses from the lower order until Gareth Delany cleared the ropes twice in the last over to set something of a target as he finished 26 not out from 11 balls.

Craig Young, who claimed 2-20 from his four overs, and Little (2-17) were the pick of the four-pronged seam attack with the latter seeming to regain his mojo after an indifferent year for Ireland after his debut in the Indian Premier League.

Stirling will want Little firing in the next two games, tomorrow and on Sunday, and will hope Mark Adair didn’t do himself too much damage taking a stunning catch, running back and diving at short third, from the penultimate delivery.

Adair, who left the field injured, had previously taken his 100th T20 wicket in 72 games - only Rashid Khan, of Afghanistan, has reached the milestone quicker.