Ireland had a stress free victory over Scotland in the first of three ODI’s in Malahide.
Stand out performances by Craig Young and Kevin O’Brien were the key factors in the win which once again emphasised the home team’s superiority over their Celtic neighbours in recent years. Chasing a well below par target of 173 runs Ireland cruised home with thirteen overs and seven wickets to spare.
The demolition was achieved without their top five county batsmen and their leading seam bowler while Scotland only had three of their main players absent. Kevin O’Brien finished with 56 not out off the same number of balls and when he reached 45 became only the second Ireland batsman to reach 2,000 runs in ODI’S. He struck 7 languid fours and a typical straight six.
O’Brien and Stuart Thompson, who made an enterprising 35 off 36 deliveries, closed out the match with an unbeaten partnership of eighty off just 71 balls. The other main contribution came from opener Andrew Balbirnie who anchored the first half of the innings with 38 from 82 deliveries.
For Scotland opening bowlers Josh Davey and Ian Wardlow were economical and each took a wicket but their colleagues could neither produce pressure nor threaten to unsettle the Ireland batters.
Earlier a superb spell of bowling by Craig Young had put Ireland in the driving seat after Scotland were bowled out for 172 in the 41st over. The big Bready man took 5 for 46 on his ODI debut and ripped the heart out of the visitor’s middle order when he returned for his second spell with Scotland on 51 for 1. He took three wickets for just two runs in the space of 14 balls twice hitting the stumps in the process. His figures are the eighth best in the history of ODI’s for a debutant and will have confirmed his place on the plane although few doubted that he would not be selected.
Ireland had won the toss this morning and put Scotland in to bat on a warm sunny morning although the start was delayed by fifteen minutes because of a heavy dew on the ground. Both countries have qualified for next year’s World Cup in Australasia and are using this series to finalise their squads for the tournament.
Max Sorensen also chipped in with two wickets removing opening batsman Matt Cross for 9 and clean bowling the last man Ian Wardlow for a duck. In between Andy McBrine also picked up a couple of wickets including danger man Richie Berrington who he caught and bowled for 2.
Only Michael Leask with a run a ball fifty including 7 fours and the only six of the innings enabled the Scots to reach any sort of defendable target before he became Young’s fourth victim caught by wicketkeeper Stuart Poynter.
So a facile win for the men in green and there are several players in the Ireland squad who will be praying that they get an opportunity to show the selectors what they can do. For that to happen it will require the Scots to produce a much more determined effort than they managed today.
The second match is also in Malahide on Wednesday with a 10.15am start.
SCOTLAND 172 ALL OUT IN 40.3 OVERS (M Leask 50, C Young 5-46, M Sorensen 2-28, A McBrine 2-36)
LOST TO IRELAND BY SEVEN WICKETS
IRELAND 173 FOR 3 IN 36.4 OVERS (K O’Brien 56*, A Balbirnie 38, S Thompson 35*, J Davey 1-24)
