Ireland completed their time in the UAE at the High Performance Camp with a second practice match this evening as they fell to a 7 wicket defeat against Hong Kong.
Ireland lost the toss and were asked to bat first under the flood-lights in the desert with the temperatures a slightly cooler 27 degrees today.
Ireland got off to the worst possible start as they lost openers Porterfield and Niall O’Brien in the powerplay, before suffering a batting collapse to leave the Boys in Green 34 for 6 and in deep trouble.
Impressive bowling from Tanwir Afzal who claimed the impressive figures of 3 for 8 saw Ireland’s middle order be ripped out and leave Ireland reeling. Gary Wilson fell for a duck, Kevin O’Brien for 2, Andrew Poynter for 3 and then when Stuart Thompson went for 7 no Ireland batsmen was even in double figures.
A partnership from Ed Joyce and Alex Cusack rescued the innings for Ireland however as the Sussex captain played superbly for 51 off just 49 balls whilst the Clontarf All-Rounder showed his worth with the bat coming in at number 8 with 27 off just 20 balls. Both men fell towards the end of the innings as Ireland could only post 108 for 8 from their 20 overs.
It was probably never going to be enough of a total to defend and despite a spirited bowling performance particularly from the Irish spinners as George Dockrell and Andy McBrine led the way again with a wicket each, Hong Kong chased down the Irish total for the loss of just 3 wickets in the penultimate over of their innings.
Irish Bowling: Murtagh 0-21 off 3, Cusack 0-10 off 2, Dockrell 1- 23 off 4, McBrine 1-25 off 4, Thompson 1 for 22 off 4, O'Brien 0-9 off 1.3
— Cricket Ireland (@Irelandcricket) March 8, 2014
Ireland will be happy to have got more match practice under their belts in the build up to the main event which starts for Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day but they will be disappointed to have lost both contests.
The official World Twenty20 Warm-Up matches are next week with Ireland set to face Bangladesh and Nepal in Fatullah ahead of the first match of the tournament proper against Zimbabwe.
Ireland travel to Bangladesh tonight & will land tomorrow to have a full week's prep for #wt20 campaign that starts on St. Patrick's Day
— Cricket Ireland (@Irelandcricket) March 8, 2014
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