Canada T20 Match Report

Eighteen year-old Hiral Patel was the hero for Canada as they defeated Ireland by four runs in a tense Twenty20 Cricket match in Sri Lanka at the Associates T20 Series. It was Patel's debut, and his 88 not out set a massive target for Ireland to beat. Ireland won the toss and chose to field, but it could have been an error, as they posted a wonderful 176/3 - a whopping 8.80 runs per over.

Andre Botha was the only Irish players to take any wickets; bowling both Rizwan Cheema and Ashish Bagai, as well as bowling and catching Umar Bhatti with the second last ball. Patel's unbeaten 88, Cheema's 34 and Bagai's 42 set Ireland a large score to overcome. Six other Irish bowlers were used to try and defeat Patel, but his batting was far too strong, scoring eleven boundaries. The Irish bowling economy was disappointing, with Trent Johnston's 6.50 (25 runs from 24 balls) Ireland's best score.

Ireland needed 177 runs from 20 overs, and were constantly playing catch-up. The openers started well - Porterfield and Niall O'Brien had a partnership of 51 for first wicket, in less than five overs. The Irish batsmen had to be very aggressive, and thus mistakes were much more likely. Wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien was Ireland's highest scorer with 50, Gary Wilson made 26, and Paul Stirling 22. Opener Porterfield scored 19, Andre Botha posted 11 runs, and Andrew White was 18 not out. Due to the aggressive nature of the twenty overs, Ireland attempted to go for extra runs at every opportunity. Thus both Kevin O'Brien and John Mooney were run out for 5 and 9 runs respectively. Botha was also run out, trying to meet the required 8.80 runs per over required.

The match went down to the last ball, and if White could have hit a six, Ireland would have won. This morning, that was not to be, and Ireland lost by four runs, ending with an impressive 172/8. On another day, perhaps Ireland would have not had as many run outs and Kevin O'Brien could have stayed batting and significantly helped our cause.

Full Scorecard

Ireland play Sri Lanka A again tomorrow (08:30 GMT) and then take on Canada in a rematch on Sunday at 06:00 GMT.

Afghanistan T20 Match Report

After losing to Sri Lanka A in their first game, Ireland turned things around to beat Afghanistan in the Associates Twenty20 Series. A marvellous stint at bat from captain William Porterfield was the main reason for Ireland's win, as well as some splendid bowling from Trent Johnston, Andre Botha, and George Dockrell.

Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat at the P Sara Oval in Colombo. They started poorly, with opener Karim Sadiq stumped for three, and although Shafiqullah held on as another wicket was taken, they had four out for just 49 runs, and Ireland looked very much in command. Their star man on the day was Raess Ahmadzai who held on to the end, and scored a very credible 33 not out. Ireland took nine wickets, and Afganistan ended their twenty overs with a makable 121 (6.05 runs per over).

The Irish bowling side was in much better form than against Sri Lanka A, and only five players were utilised, bowling a maximum 4 overs each. Irish cricket legend Trent Johnston started incredibly well, taking out the first three Afghanistan batsmen, and even scoring a maiden over in a phenomenal stint with the ball (he went on to take another wicket, ending with 4-22). Botha took 3 wickets and Dockrell took 2, while Alex Cusack and Kevin O'Brien did only alright, giving away too many runs. Dockrell and Botha were magnificent though, allowing only 11 and 14 runs respectively.

Ireland opened their attack with the same opening duo who played against Sri Lanka A. This time, they were much improved, with Niall O'Brien scoring 18 from 13 balls, and William Porterfield hitting nine boundaries on the way to a very impressive 48 from 30 balls. Ireland were halfway to their target after just 7 overs and looked comfortable until a middle-order batting collapse led to some nervous moments. In just twelve balls, Andre Botha (5 runs), Kevin O'Brien (1), and Paul Stirling (17) were all taken out. However for the second successive match, the duo of John Mooney and Gary Wilson teamed up to close out the match for Ireland. This time however, they were on the winning side. Mooney 8 not out and Wilson 16 not out. Some poor bowling from the Afghanis also allowed thirteen extras, as they used seven different attackers to try and bowl Ireland out. It was not to be, however, as Ireland won with eleven balls remaining.

Ireland take on Canada tomorrow in Colombo as they continue their cricket tour of Sri Lanka. It's on at 04:30 GMT, in case you plan on staying up to keep an eye on it.

Sri Lanka A T20 Match Report

A solid opening innings from Ireland was not enough to overcome Sri Lanka A on Sunday at the Nondescripts Cricket Ground in Colombo. Ireland batted strongly with five players scoring 20 or more, and opener William Porterfield finishing with a strike rate of 150.00. This was not enough, as an all-round team effort from Sri Lanka won the match with one of the allotted twenty overs remaining.

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to field. Ireland's other opener Niall O'Brien, only lasted two and a half overs and eight balls before being caught for six. Luckily, this did not hinder progress too much, as Andre Botha stepped in to take over. Porterfield was lbwed for 24, Botha and Alex Cusack both ended with 20, and Ireland were 91 for 4 after just 12 overs. Andrew White batted extremely well to keep the score and run rate high scoring 39 off 37 balls. Gary Wilson and John Mooney stayed in until the end, with Mooney hitting 3 off 4 balls, and Wilson scoring a marvellous 28 not out (from just 25 balls). Ireland set a score of 147, at 7.35 runs per over.

Sri Lanka's batting collapsed early, and they were only on a score of 54 with five wickets taken after 7.4 overs. However, Seekkugge Presanna, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, and Jeewan Mendis performed magnificently to bring Sri Lanka back from the brink and win the match with just six balls remaining. Presanna's 28 off 15 balls was extremely impressive.

Phil Eaglestone had been been drafted into the Ireland squad to provide extra bite with the ball, and even though he took out opener Milinda Siriwardana, he only lasted two overs, giving away an astonishing 28 runs. Nigel Jones and John Mooney were others who needed to keep their economy down, giving away far too many runs for a Twenty20 cricket match.

Trent Johnston and George Dockrell were the best of the bowlers, taking two wickets each and only allowing 4.33 and 5.00 runs per over. Alex Cusack also bowled well, taking two wickets himself, including the menacing Jayasinghe.

It was not Ireland's day however, as a strong all-round performance gave the hosts victory.