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Ireland fell to a 6 wicket defeat in a T20 Practice Match in Abu Dhabi this afternoon as Ireland’s preparations continue for the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.
Ireland won the toss and batted first on a day when the temperature reached 33 degrees in Abu Dhabi. Ireland fielded an XI that didn’t feature Alex Cusack, Stuart Thompson, Paul Stirling or Tim Murtagh from the Irish squad of 15. Opening up the batting for Ireland were William Porterfield and Niall O’Brien but the Irish total of 127 for 7 was mainly built around contributions of 32 from Gary Wilson, a quick-fire 21 from Ed Joyce and a innings late in the order of 30 not out from James Shannon.

Niall O’Brien was the next best for Ireland with 19 at the top of the innings. William Porterfield (0), Kevin O’Brien (1) and Andrew Poynter (6) all fell for low scores before Shannon’s late hitting accompanied by support from Max Sorensen got Ireland up to their final total of just more than a run-a-ball. For Worcestershire, Shaaiq Choudhry’s left arm spin claimed the figures of 4 for 30 from his 4 overs.

Despite an early breakthrough from Max Sorensen and good spells of spin bowling from George Dockrell and Andy McBrine, Ireland’s total did not prove to be enough and Worcestershire ran out 6 wicket winners with 7 balls to spare as they made 130 for 4 in 18.5 overs. Former Dutch international Alexei Kervezee was the top-scorer for Worcestershire as his innings of 54 not out guided the ‘Pears’ chase home in the second last over of the match. Kervezee reached his 50 from just 42 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes.

Ireland’s bowlers had varying success with George Dockrell’s 2 for 15 and Andy McBrine’s 1 for 21 being the stand-out pair. Max Sorensen finished with 1 for 22 whilst Kevin O’Brien with 0 for 29 and Craig Young with 0 for 30 both went wicket-less in their spells.

Next up for Ireland is Hong Kong under the flood-lights in Sharjah tomorrow at 2pm Irish Time.

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Ireland’s openers walking out to bat © SportArabia.co.uk
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