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Ireland score 59 run win over Afghanistan

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A typically classy innings from Ed Joyce helped Ireland retain their place on top of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Championships table.
A typically classy innings from Ed Joyce coupled with a brilliant fightback from Ireland in the field and with the ball saw Ireland score a crucial win over Afghanistan by 59 runs at Clontarf Cricket Club yesterday.
Ireland eased to a 59-run win over Afghanistan in the ICC World Cricket League Championship at Clontarf but they certainly didn’t have things all their own way. At the half-way stage of the match, Irish fans would not have been comfortable as Ireland set out to defend just 163.

It was mainly thanks to Ed Joyce’s stylish 67 not out that Ireland got up to that total of 163 all out. Ireland were bowled out inside 47 overs after they were put in to bat in the second clash between the two countries, who had shared the points from the first ODI when rain ruined any chances of play.

Batting appeared tough for all of Ireland’s batsmen as good bowling from the Afghan openers had Ireland struggling at 33-4, this brought Kevin O’Brien and Ed Joyce together who started to set Ireland on their way to defendable total. Kevin O’Brien was run out for 31 off just 32 balls however, trying to scamper a quick single which brought on another mini-collapse. By the end of the 31st over Ireland were in all sorts of trouble at 106-8, with a combination of Shapoor Zadran’s 3 wicket burst of Left-Arm pace and some tight stuff from spinners Mohammed Nabi and Hamza Hotak doing the damage. Ireland’s 9th and 10th wicket partnerships were crucial though as Ed Joyce combined first with Tim Murtagh to add 29 runs and then with George Dockrell to add 28 runs to the Irish total.

This left Afghanistan needing 164 to win but their hopes of doing so were dashed by outstanding early spells of swing and seam bowling from Trent Johnston and Alex Cusack, with Cusack taking three for 17 and Johnston two for 18 in really top class spells. The Afghan batsmen never looked at home batting in the Irish conditions and Ireland looked in control throughout the second innings as wickets fell regularly, with Ireland’s young spin twins of Dockrell and Stirling finishing the job off by sharing four wickets between them.

Trent Johnston took the crucial wickets of Afghanistan captain Karim Sadiq and wicketkeeper Mohammad Shahzad while Cusack accounted for Javed Ahmadi, Asghar Stanikzai and Mohammad Nabi as Afghanistan fell to 33 for five.

Ed Joyce spoke after the match about how important Trent Johnston and Alex Cusack’s contributions were with the ball.

“We needed a few early wickets and Trent bowled beautifully. He didn’t really bowl bad ball to be fair and then Cusie did the same. “It was a bit slow and nibbly, the wicket, it was very difficult to drive it, so you had to rein in your natural instincts from playing that shot.” Finally, he added how happy Ireland are to stay top of the table. “We would’ve liked to have played the other game, but we got three points from four against a very strong side.”

With the top two spots in the league earning a place at the 2015 World Cup, Ireland have no extended their lead at the top of the WCL Championships table.

The table now looks like this

Played Points Net Run Rate
Ireland 8 13 +1.187
U.A.E. 6 10 +0.184
Scotland 6 8 +0.160
Afghanistan 8 7 -0.680
Netherlands 6 6 +0.373
Kenya 6 4 -0.250
Namibia 6 2 -0.318
Canada 6 2 -0.879