NEW YORK: A gutsy fifth-wicket partnership between Nicholas Kirton and Shreyas Movva, followed by a tight bowling display led Canada to upset Ireland in the 13th match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 here at Nassau County International Stadium on Saturday.
Set to chase a modest 138 on a tricky surface, Ireland could only manage 125 for the loss in the allotted 20 overs despite a fighting 62-run partnership between Mark Adair and George Dockrell.
Ireland had a cautious start to their innings as their openers Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie struggled to score freely against a disciplined Canadian bowling.
Canada soon got the reward of the early domination as Jeremy Gordon got Stirling caught behind in the sixth over with just 26 runs on the board. Stirling scored just nine off 17 deliveries.
Ireland then lost five more wickets at regular intervals and were consequently reduced to 59/6 in 12.3 overs.
It appeared all over for the European side as they needed 79 runs off just 45 balls with four wickets in hand but Adair and Dockrell glimmered a ray of hope for Ireland fans with a fighting partnership.
The duo brought Ireland in touching distance as they needed 17 off the final over.
However, Mark Adair played out a dot on the first delivery and perished on the second as Canada regained control. Adair top-scored for Ireland with a 24-ball 34 which featured three fours and a six.
Ireland only managed four runs on the last four deliveries, paving the way for Canada to taste their first-ever victory in T20 World Cups.
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Put into bat first, Canada managed to register a decent total on the board despite a disastrous start to their innings.
The associate nation, after a dismal start, lost wickets at regular intervals and consequently slipped to 53/4 in 8.1 overs.
Following the debacle, wicketkeeper batter Movva joined Kirton in the middle and the duo combined to launch recovery.
Movva and Kirton batted sensibly under pressure and added 75 runs for the fifth wicket to pull Canada out of trouble.
Nicholas Kirton, however, had an agonizing end to his gutsy knock in the penultimate over as he fell just one run short of his well-deserved half-century. He remained the top-scorer for Canada with a 35-ball 49 with the help of three fours and two sixes.
Movva, on the other hand, got run out on the final delivery after scoring 37 off 36 deliveries, hitting three fours.
Barry McCarthy and Craig Young bagged two wickets each while Mark Adair and Gareth Delany chipped in with a wicket apiece.
It is worth mentioning here that Ireland are at the bottom of Group A of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 while Canada are placed fourth as both teams sustained defeats in their respective campaign openers.
PLAYING XIs
Ireland: Paul Stirling (c), Andy Balbirnie, Lorcan Tucker, Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Josh Little, Craig Young.
Canada: Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Dilpreet Bajwa, Saad Bin Zafar (c), Junaid Siddiqui, Dilon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Jeremy Gordon.
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