Tonight in Sylhet the floodlights went out as Ireland were on course for a comfortable win against UAE. Any chance of a resumption of play was thwarted by a heavy rain storm which ended the game. Ireland therefor won by 21 runs on the D/L method as they only needed a further 21 runs with 34 balls remaining and seven wickets still in hand.
However a real concern for Ireland is the fitness of key man Paul Stirling who was hit on the point of the elbow from the first ball he faced and, although after receiving treatment continued for another few balls during which he smashed two fours, he had to retire hurt. He has gone for a scan on his elbow which will determine if he is able to play on Friday or indeed during the remainder of the tournament should Ireland win against the Dutch.
In truth it was a rather strange game with Ireland always looking a class above their opponents. William Porterfield had won the toss and with the entire game due to be played under lights decided to send UAE into bat. The possibility of dew particularly in the second innings would mean the ball coming on to the bat and make scoring easier and negate spin bowling. Andy McBrine, one of the hero’s’ in Monday’s victory over Zimbabwe, was surprisingly omitted from the team in favour of Tim Murtagh. While Murtagh justified his place in the team by only conceding 20 runs off his four overs and took the crucial wicket of the UAE captain and key batter, Khurram Khan, his pace bowling partner Max Sorensen yet again offered little threat.
Paul Stirling again opened the bowling with his nagging off-breaks and only conceded three runs in his first over. However Sorensen couldn’t hit a consistent line and length and his first two overs went for fifteen runs. Although there was a frenetic element to the UAE batting both openers were still there with one ball of the fifth over remaining and 35 on the board. It was no surprise that the first wicket fell to a run out as the two batsmen had rehearsed the possibility on several occasions before finally getting it right or indeed wrong. A sharp piece of fielding off his own bowling by Murtagh allowed Gary Wilson to whip off the bails with Asif short of his ground.
Ireland's Paul Stirling ©INPHO/Barry Chambers
It was the return of Stirling in the seventh over, with the total on 46 that effectively changed the course of the innings. Amjad mistimed a cut of Paul’s opening delivery to give George Dockrell a simple catch at backward point and three balls later he enticed a chip to midwicket by Patil which was gleefully accepted by Porterfield. A maiden over in T20 is a rarity and a double wicket maiden is even more unusual.
Now I know that Ireland won fairly comfortably in the end largely, by restricting UAE to a mere 123, it appears rather bizarre that Stirling didn’t bowl again in the innings. His three overs only cost 12 runs, 5 of which came from a leg side wide that went to the boundary and apart from his two wickets he had 14 dot balls in his spell.
Khurram Khan and Shaiman Anwar went on a mission to rebuild the innings and while they added 42 for the fourth wicket it occupied 46 balls and failed to provide any momentum to the innings. The introduction of Kevin O’Brien into the attack put a further break on the scoring and the last ball off his second over broke the partnership when Anwar clipped back a return catch. Anwar ended as the innings top scorer with thirty but he used up 28 deliveries in the process. Three deliveries later Murtagh got the wicket off the skipper and UAE’s last hope of a competitive score had gone. The final five overs of the innings only yielded a further 32 runs and brought a wicket apiece for Alex Cusack and Kevin O’Brien. Apart from Stirling the best figures were supplied by O’Brien who only gave up 17 runs of his four overs which included 12 dot balls.
Having chased down 164 against Zimbabwe a target of 40 runs less against an inferior bowling attack really wasn’t a challenge that should have caused too many flutters in the dressing room. And so it proved with Ireland taking in score to 95 in the thirteenth over before they lost their first wicket. When Stirling retired hurt Ed Joyce joined his skipper William Porterfield to add eighty runs off 68 balls and effectively put the match beyond the reach of the UAE. Porterfield played the anchor role while Joyce forsook his normal measured play for a more aggressive innings. Apart from his normal cultured shots he slog swept the off spinner for a six that never rose above head high and next ball danced down the wicket to smash him over midwicket for four.
Joyce finally fell to the third ball of the thirteenth over from a mistimed pull for 43 off 38 balls which left Ireland needing just 29 runs off 45 deliveries. Kevin O’Brien came to the wicket with the clear intent of getting those runs as quickly as possible to enhance Ireland’s run rate but didn’t quite middle a pull shot and picked out the only fielder on the leg side fence for a second ball duck.
Andrew Poynter only faced five balls, four of which he played and missed at: the one that he got a bat on flew through the covers for four but was yorked by the last ball of the over. At that point the lights went out and although they came on again after fifteen minutes, only two more balls were possible as they failed for a second time and together with the rain brought the game to a premature end.
William Porterfield had made it his job to see Ireland home and his 35 ball thirty three ensured he achieved his objective. Asadullah Shareef with 2 for 21 was the most successful of the UAE bowlers.
Qualification is now totally in Ireland’s hands. They face Netherlands on Friday morning knowing that any sort of a win will see them top Group B with maximum points. However should they fail to win it opens the door for both the Netherlands and Zimbabwe to pip Ireland on run rate. Earlier today Zimbabwe went to the last ball of the match for the second time this week except this time they prevailed when Sibanda crashed the final delivery for six.
As Ireland celebrate their win tonight they will be praying that there is no serious damage to Paul Stirling as he is a key man in this side, not just for his batting prowess but also for his canny bowling which balances the attack.
Ed Joyce was deservedly awarded Man of the Match.
