IRELAND HAVE SUFFERED a shock defeat to Papua New Guinea in their World Twenty20 Qualifying Group A game in Stormont this morning.
John Bracewell’s side had won their three previous outings in the pool but came unstuck against a country who only gained One-Day International status last year.
It is Ireland’s first defeat in this World Twenty20 qualifying tournament in 22 games, a run which stretched back to March 2012.
It looked like the hosts had survived a major scare by taking wickets at regular intervals to curb Papua New Guinea’s chase of 124 but Norman Vanua struck three sixes in the penultimate over to see his side over the line to claim a famous win.
In the grand scheme of things, the result won’t have a major bearing on whether Ireland qualify for next year’s World Twenty20 in India but it was another wake-up call following the series defeat to Scotland last month.
Wins over Namibia, USA and Nepal had put William Porterfield’s side in a commanding position in Group A as their dominance at this level was underlined. But they’ve yet to fire on all cylinders during this tournament, as today’s result suggests.
Porterfield held Ireland’s innings together with a half-century but his decision to bat first, in a game starting at 10am local time in overcast conditions, was questionable.
Ireland never got going in the face of a spirited PNG outfit and stuttered their way to 123-9 after their 20 overs with Porterfield left unbeaten on 59.
The bowlers then managed to wrestle back the ascendancy and appeared to be heading for another victory but Vanua had other ideas.
The PNG batsman clubbed 28 off just 10 balls, including those three maximums of John Mooney, to spark joyous scenes for the visitors as their chances of qualification received a major boost.
It’s likely this result will prove to be a minor blot on Ireland’s copybook but they will be bitterly disappointed to suffer defeat in the manner they did – particularly considering the high standards they now set themselves and the expectation on them from the public.
Nonetheless, you can’t read too much into one result and there is little time to reflect on a poor day’s work.
With the top three from each group securing a berth in India, there is little to sweat about for Ireland but they’ll be determined to make amends on Friday against Hong Kong.
Full scorecard and tournament results can be viewed here.
Originally published at 13.52
Kane’ s second goal oozed class, a great three points for Spurs I thought they were struggling to break Villa down until the last 15 mins.
Grealish caught wanting too much time on the ball a few times, he’ll need to adjust to Premier League, on the bright side for Villa Mings put some shift in at the back, looks top quality.
@Sean: glrealish has lost 18 games in a row.. The longest of any player in premiership history
@Chonky Racoon: how did you work that one out considering they came up through the playoffs? Unless you mean he has lost his last 18 premier league games in which case that’s just a completely meaningless start as he only appeared in 16 league games the year they went down so it’s a stat spread over 3 Prem seasons over 5 years apart.
Clinical finishes from Kane. So important fir spurs that he stays fit. Eriksen showed his class. Would love him to sign a new contract. Decent first showing from Ndombele. With Son, Ali & La Celso still to come in fir spurs it could be another good season.
90 minute game, Spurs showed patience and class in the last 20 minutes. Kane has the X factor. Ndoble could be a player.
Spurs looked like a real side tonight, in the past they would have lost that match, but a serious team now the last 20 mins they showed it. Grealish well he’ll have better days.
Delighted your man lost the ball for Spurs’ second.
Typical kane.. Does nothing for 70 odd mins then sores a jammy goal.