Gary Wilson struck 80 runs from 69 balls in a defiant late innings to help Ireland edge the United Arab Emirates by two wickets on Wednesday in a World Cup match that was finely balanced until the last over.
In the unfamiliar position of being the favorite in a World Cup match following its opening upset win over the West Indies, Ireland won the toss, sent the UAE in to bat and had them in trouble at 78-4 before Shaiman Anwar came to the rescue with his maiden ODI century to lift the total to 278-9.
The Irish never appeared comfortable in reply after losing Paul Stirling (3) in the second over, eventually sneaking to 279-8 with four balls to spare and after contributions from Wilson and Kevin O’Brien (50). In the time since its opening four-wicket win at Nelson, Ireland was idle while the two-time champion West Indies rebounded with big wins over Pakistan and Zimbabwe.
The UAE was the last of the 14 teams to get its Cup campaign underway, losing by four wickets to Zimbabwe last week after getting themselves into a strong position to win. It was a similar plot for the UAE in Brisbane, where the group of part-timers and semi-professionals couldn’t quite get across the line. Anwar scored a national record 106 and shared a 107-run partnership with Amjad Javed, who hit 42 from 35 balls and later returned to take three wickets and a crucial catch.
William Porterfield (37) and Ed Joyce (37) put on 68 for the second wicket for Ireland, but had some luck along the way. Joyce got a massive reprieve when Javed beat him with a full in-swinging ball that grazed his off stump but didn’t dislodge the bail. He was also dropped when he hit a sharp return chance to captain Mohammad Tauqir and was lucky not to be run out before he was eventually out edging behind off Javed for 37.
Porterfield was beaten by his counterpart, trying to slog sweep a ball from Tauqir that drifted in and bowled him to make the total 94-3. The 43-year-old Tauqir then had Niall O’Brien (17) out lbw before Andy Ballbirnie and Wilson put on 74 to keep the run chase alive. O’Brien went to the crease at the fall of Ballbirnie’s wicket and dominated a 72-run stand in six overs with Wilson, lifting the run-rate with a half century from 25 balls including eight boundaries and two giant, driven sixes before he was caught off Javed’s bowling with the total at 243-6.
Wilson had a reprieve on an lbw decision before he fell in the 48th over to a brilliant catch from Javed, leaving George Dockrell (7) and Alex Cusack to score the 12 runs needed. After being sent in to bat, the UAE made a promising start with a 49-run opening stand between Amjad Ali (45) and Andri Berenger (13).
Stirling made the initial breakthroughs in the 12th and 14th overs: Berenger was caught by Porterfield and Krishna Chandran (0) edged to O’Brien, who took a catch on the second grab at slip after it deflected off wicketkeeper Wilson.