Published: Mar 21, 2014, 04:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 21, 2014, 04:41 PM (IST)
By Shrikant Shankar
Mar 21, 2014
Andrew Poynter and Kevin O’Brien starred in a 101-run partnership to propel Ireland to 189 for four against the Netherlands in an ICC World T20 2014 Group B qualifier clash. Poynter top-scored with 57 and O’Brien remained unbeaten on 42. Ireland need a win to ensure progress to the Super 10s of the T20 World Cup.
Zimbabwe had already beaten UAE by five wickets in the earlier match. So both the European rivals came into the last qualifier match in the T20 World Cup at Sylhet on March 22 needing a win each. Ireland got a bright start before Poynter and O’Brien came together. At the time Ireland’s score was 88 for thee in the 13th over. From there, they struck fours and sixes with ease to help Ireland to a commanding total.
Earlier, Netherlands’ captain Peter Borren had won the toss and elected to chase. The Netherlands need a big win, so, batting second was very important for them. William Porterfield and Paul Stirling opened the batting for Ireland. Captain Porterfield looked to be in terrific touch as he hitting the boundaries at will.
Porterfield’s first four though came of an inside edge to a wide delivery from Michael Swart in the first over. Stirling got his first four with a punch through backward-point as Timm van der Gugten offered some width. Porterfield then struck a four and a six off consecutive deliveries from Ahsan Malik in the third over. The six was hit over the bowler with a brilliantly timed chip shot.
Van der Gugten struck though in the fourth over. he bowled a short and wide delivery and Stirling tried to pull it on the leg side, only to top-edge it to Borren at point. Stirling was out for seven. But that did not deter Porterfield, who immediately struck two fours in the same over. Both were delightful drives through the covers from the left-hander.
He then played a lofted drive over long-off to a full delivery from Swart and got his second six in the innings. Ireland were almost going at a run-rate of nine runs an over. Borren brought Mudassar Bukhari into the attack, but it did not matter to Porterfield as he turned a straight delivery past the short fine-leg fielder for a four.
Ed Joyce too got in on the act, but not before he was dropped by Malik off Tom Cooper’s bowling. Joyce then chipped one over cover in the same over and got a four. The Netherlands bowlers then bowled two overs without conceding any boundaries. That forced Porterfield to come down the pitch and play a flat-batted shot to a slower delivery from Malik. Porterfield missed and got bowled for 47 off 32 deliveries with five fours and two sixes.
Joyce then advanced forward and to Pieter Seelaar and hit a six over deep square-leg. Andy Poynter was then dropped by Swart off his own bowling in the 12th over. Joyce was then run out for 28 off 25 deliveries going for a quick single. That brought Kevin O’Brien to join Poynter in the middle.
The duo hit a six and four each in the 14th and 15th overs of the innings. Then in the 16th over bowled by Bukhari smashed three sixes in-a-row to propel Ireland. In the 17th over bowled by van der Gugten, Poynter struck two fours and got a single towards point to reach his first half-century in Twenty20 Internationals.
O’Brien then joined the party with a massive six in the same over. Poynter was again dropped by Malik off his won bowling in the 18th over. O’Brien then smashed the first deliveries in the 19th over bowled by Logan van Beek for big sixes. The first was sliced over point and the second was flat-batted over long-on. He then sliced a wide delivery over point for a four.
Poynter was finally caught at deep mid-wicket for 57 off 38 deliveries on the last ball of the innings. Malik got his second wicket and van Beek took the catch. The total looks like a good one for Ireland. They only need a win to progress to the Super 10s. The Netherlands need to achieve the target in 14.2 overs to progress into the next round.
Brief scores:
Ireland 189 for 4 in 20 overs (William Porterfield 47, Ed Joyce 28, Andrew Poynter 57, Kevin O’Brien 42*; Ahsan Malik 2 for 26) vs Netherlands.
ICC World T20 2014 Points Table and Team Standings
ICC World T20 2014 Schedule details
(Shrikant Shankar is a writer/reporter at CricketCountry.com. Previously he has done audio commentary for various matches involving India, Indian Premier League and Champions League Twenty20 for ESPNSTAR.com. You can follow him on Twitter @Shrikant_23)
