ICC World Cricket League, Division One: Ireland beat Scotland by 5 wickets
Ireland completed their 3rd consecutive win in the ICC World Cricket League Division One, as they beat Scotland comprehensively by 5 wickets, and with 94 balls remaining, at the Sportpark Westvliet, Voorburg.
Ireland won the toss and chose to bowl first and make use of the seaming conditions. Scotland were not equipped to deal with the moving ball, and lost wickets at regular intervals; only two of their batsmen (http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DR-Lockhart-c1399 and Neil McCallum) managed to get into double figures.
Preston Mommsen and Ollie Hairs opened the innings, but were separated early as Mommsen was dismissed (run out) not because of the swing, but a mix up in the middle of the pitch. Mommsen scored just 4 runs from 15 balls.
His partner followed soon after, as Hairs was cleaned up by Kevin O’Brien after scoring just 5 runs from 9 balls with one boundary.
Richie http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Berrington-c47840 was in next but did not last very long; he put on 15 for the 3rd wicket with Fraser Watts, before being caught by Poynter off the bowling of Nigel Jones for just 4 runs from 16 balls.
10 runs and 5 overs later, Watts was dismissed for just 8 runs from 44 balls; he was caught by Jones off the bowling of Alex Cusack.
At 36 for 4, Scotland were in deep trouble, and it got worse for them when 4 runs later, Moneeb Iqbal was also sent back without scoring a single run. He was caught by Cusack off the bowling of Jones.
McCallum and Lockhart finally put on a partnership, even though the conditions were still not ideal for batting and the ball was still doing its bit even after the 20th over.
The pair put on the only good partnership of the innings; 59 runs for the 6th wicket. Lockhart was dismissed for just 19 runs from 68 balls. He was run out via a direct hit from Andrew White.
McCallum was finally bowled out after scoring 49 runs from 94 balls with 6 boundaries; he was caught and bowled by John Mooney.
None of the lower order batsmen managed to contribute to the total much, and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 were bowled out for just 117 in the 48th over, with a run-rate of 2.47 runs per over.
The target looked quite simple for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751, and at halfway point they would have fancied their chances of easily getting to the total.
Ireland lost the first wicket early as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Parker-c80761.
Last match’s man of the match, Alex Cusack, failed to impress this time and was dismissed on the 2nd ball of the third over without scoring any runs; Parker knocked back his stumps on the very first ball he faced.
The 2nd opener, Paul Stirling, was still looking solid at the other end. Kevin O’Brien came in next and put on a responsible partnership alongside Stirling.
The pair knew that the required run rate was not much with just a target of 118. O’Brien and Stirling hung in there and did not play any adventurous strokes.
Stirling was the more aggressive of the two, and pounced on to any width, playing stroke square of the wicket. He hit Parker for consecutive boundaries before being cleaned up by Gordon Drummond after scoring 37 runs from 43 balls, with 7 boundaries.
Andrew Poynter came and left without scoring any runs, and Andrew White was also dismissed by Drummond after scoring just 2 runs.
John Mooney joined O’Brien to knock off the last few runs, and Ireland won the match by 5 wickets with more than 15 overs to spare.
O’Brien was unbeaten at 41 (off 84 balls) in the end, with 5 fours and one six.
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