HALF-CENTURIES FROM openers Andrew Balbirnie and Paul Stirling secured a comprehensive nine-wicket victory for Ireland in their second match of the ICC T20 World Cup Europe Qualifiers at the Grange Cricket Club.

It was an excellent all-round performance from Ireland, with the bowling attack of  Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Ben White, and Curtis Campher all taking wickets.

Ireland started the day with an unchanged line-up from Thursday’s win over Italy, while Denmark took the field minus their captain Hamid Shah, having had to return home for personal reasons. They did include Nicolaj Laegsgaard, who plays in Ireland for The Hills Cricket Club, and who has also featured for the Munster Reds in the Rario Inter-Provincial competition.

After winning the toss Denmark opted to bat first, and opener Laegsgaard took the game to Josh Little in the second over, following up a six with a boundary down towards the leg-side as Denmark moved on to 22-0 after two overs.

McCarthy made the breakthrough when Musa Shaheen nicked one behind to Lorcan Tucker with just his fourth delivery, before Adair took the big wicket of Laegsgaard (20) in the fourth over, when he skied a slower delivery straight down the throat of Balbirnie, with Denmark 29-2.

McCarthy was causing all sorts of problems for the Danish batters in his opening two-over spell, and forced a leading edge from Taranjit Bharaj to Ben White at third, who took a nice catch.

White continued Ireland’s impressive bowling when he removed Saif Ahmad, as Denmark found it hard to build any notable partnerships, and at the midway point of their innings were struggling on 59-4.

Oliver Hald, who also plays his cricket in Ireland with Phoenix CC, showed plenty of resolve at number eight, scoring 21, before Mark Adair was brought back in the 18th over and removed him first ball.

Ireland were very clinical with their bowling – with the slower ball doing most of the damage – McCarthy (3-16) and Adair (3-22) the most economical, as Denmark finish on 122-9.

Ireland captain Stirling opened the batting for Ireland alongside Balbirnie, and they got off to a similar start to the Danes, with 32 runs on the board after the first three overs. Stirling’s fast hands brought up three successive boundaries, while two excellent slog-sweeps from Balbirnie went for six.

The fifty came up as Balbirnie smashed a boundary on the leg side, as they quickly moved onto 52-0 after five overs.

Both openers did have some good fortune, as Stirling was dropped by Hald, while Balbirnie was dropped on 41 after Denmark introduced spin and almost made an immediate impact.

Balbirnie scored his ninth T20I half-century, off 35 balls, with the last ball of the tenth over, hitting a single to long-off. However he departed in the next over while trying to scoop the ball over the wicketkeeper, and the ball crashed into the stumps.

Stirling scored a fifty of his own – his 23rd career T20I half-century – off 38 balls, including nine fours, before he and Tucker steered Ireland home with 5.3 overs to spare.

Match summary:

Denmark 122-9 (20 overs; O Hald 21, N Laegsgaard 20; B McCarthy 3-16)

Ireland 123-1 (14.3 overs; P Stirling 55*, A Balbirnie 53; J Henricksen 1-28)

(Ireland won by 9 wickets)

Report courtesy of Cricket Ireland 

The 42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!