Ireland put in a superb performance with the ball to cruise to a 62 run victory over the hosts, UAE and seal their spot in tomorrow’s final.
Max Sorensen got Ireland off to a perfect start and bowled with real pace to bowl 20 dot balls in his 4 over spell of 4 for 15 whilst Tim Murtagh had his best spell of the tournament and finished with 4 for 24, Ireland were superb in the field and with the ball and the all-round effort saw the UAE come up 62 runs short.
So, Ireland will face Afghanistan for the third consecutive time in the World Twenty 20 Qualifiers, all due to start at 2pm and again LIVE on Sky Sports
full report to follow
First Innings Report
Ireland captain William Porterfield won the toss again as Ireland continued their streak of batting first in every single match in the tournament.
Ireland lost their in-form opener William Porterfield for just 7 as they got off to a poor start on a sluggish pitch in Abu Dhabi. The start got worse as James Shannon fell for 7 batting at number 3 and soon after Paul Stirling fell clean bowled for 17. When Gary Wilson fell soon after reverse sweeping and was caught for 3, Ireland were in all sorts of trouble at 44 for 4.
O’Brien and Mooney then began to get the innings together before Kevin O’Brien fell for 31 to leave Ireland in need of some big hitting to get to a good total.
That big hitting came from Trent Johnston who struck the spinners straight down the ground very well to make 35 from just 19 balls, his innings combined with John Mooney’s 29 helped get Ireland up to 147 for 8.
You can see the scorecard in full by clicking here.
To see video highlights of the match via the ICC Website please click here.
Cricket Ireland
Yes
Connaught
