Advertisement
The Ireland team celebrate. Ireland Cricket Twitter

Ireland qualify for T20 World Cup after victory over Oman

Ireland are heading to Australia in what will be a seventh straight appearance at the cricket World Cup.

IRELAND BOOKED A spot at this year’s T20 World Cup with a comfortable 56-run victory over hosts Oman in qualifying on Tuesday, as the United Arab Emirates also secured a ticket to Australia.

It will be Ireland’s seventh straight appearance in the showpiece, having only missed the inaugural edition in 2007.

Andy Balbirnie’s side made a shaky start to the Global Qualifier A event, losing their first game last week to the UAE, but bounced back with successive wins to reach the semi-finals.

With the two finalists to qualify, Tuesday’s last-four game was a winner-takes-all affair, and Ireland made a strong start, posting a challenging total of 165-7 after Oman won the toss and opted to field first.

Openers Balbirnie and Paul Stirling, who had previously made three straight fifty partnerships, fell early to leave Ireland 19-2.

But Gareth Delany struck 47 from 32 balls, before Andy McBrine added late impetus with a 21-ball 36.

Oman, who had qualified for the last two T20 World Cups, never got going with the bat and were bowled out for 105, as Irish spinners Simi Singh (3-20) and McBrine (2-24) took five wickets between them.

It was a similarly one-sided game in the other semi-final as the UAE beat previously unbeaten Nepal by 68 runs to qualify for the main tournament for only the second time.

Ireland and the UAE will join the 12 sides who reached the 2021 T20 World Cup ‘Super 12′ stage in the main tournament Down Under, which gets underway on October 16.

The final two spots will be decided at the Global Qualifier B event in Zimbabwe in July.

– © AFP 2022

Author
View 16 comments
Close
16 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel