Ireland beat Afghanistan by 3 wickets in Match 2 of Dubai Triangular series

Jan 10, 2015

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Ireland beat Afghanistan in a tense finish in match two of the Dubai Triangular series. Chasing 181 the Irish scratched and prodded before eventually overhauling the score to win by three wickets and 40 balls to spare. Alex Cusack and Andy Bilbirnie took the Irish home with a 52-run for the eighth wicket. Ed Joyce top scored for the Irish with 51 and Javed Ahmadi was the pick of the Afghan bowlers with figures of four for 37.

Ireland innings began in much the same fashion as Afghanistan’s. Paul Stirling was dismissed on the third ball of the first over for duck. Captain William Porterfield followed suit with next to nothing on the board on the stroke of the innings break. Porterfield fell victim to his counterpart Mohammad Nabi. Nabi was in action again soon after the innings break as he got rid of the usually reliable Gary Wilson for just eight. At that stage Ireland were tottering at 29 for three.

Ed Joyce who was making a return to the Irish team after a brief period away from the game set about resurrecting the Irish innings first in company of Niall o’Brien who stuck around with Joyce for a partnership of 44 for the fourth wicket, then the explosive Kevin o’Brien before being dismissed for a well constructed 51. Javed Ahmadi was having an incredible match as he snapped up both Niall o’Brien and Ed Joyce in addition to the 81 he scored in the Afghanistan innings. Javed Ahmadi wasn’t done yet though as he delivered two incisive blows in one over, to get rid of a well set Kevin o’Brien and John Mooney. In a space of 27 runs Ireland had lost three big wickets and control of the match. But Alex Cusack and Andy Bilbirnie showed great match presence, soaking in the pressure at the same time keeping the runs ticking over. The duo took the Irish home with 40 balls to spare to win their first match of the Triangular series.

Earlier Ireland had won the toss and elected to bowl and the decision was seemingly the correct one as John Mooney and George Dockrell ran through the Afghan top order. At the half way stage, with the exception of Javed Ahmadi, no other batsman had entered double figures. Such was the sorry state of affairs. Ahmadi did the bulk of the scoring registering his fourth One-Day International fifty in the process. He finished with 81. Najibullah Zadran joined hands with Ahmadi briefly and continued batting subsequent to Ahmadi’s dismissal as well taking Afghanistan close to 200. Najibullah was eventually dismissed for 45 and the Afghans were bowled out for 180.

Brief scores:

Afghanistan 180 in 44.2 overs (Javed Ahmadi 81; George Dockrell 4 for 35) lost to Ireland 181 for 7 in 43.2 overs (Ed Joyce 51; Javed Ahmadi 4 for 37) by three wickets.