ireland made his odi debut against new zealand at bulawayo on 24 august 2005 where he took the wickets of both stephen fleming and chris cairns. he performed consistently with the ball, being one of the few prospects on the zimbabwe team, after the exodus of players like gavin ewing, andy blignaut, henry olonga, andy flower and tatenda taibu. however, even with his performances zimbabwe cricket continued on its downturn, as they gradually became weaker and weaker as an international side.