Dubai: It was a memorable day for Ireland at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
On the final day of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20 qualifier, they added another glorious page to Irish cricket history by not only qualifying for the Twenty20 World Cup again by stopping Namibia in a morning match, but also beating the defending champions Afghanistan in a pulsating final in the evening to emerge as the new champions.
Ireland and Afghanistan stood tall amid the 16 teams that participated in the 12-day tournament, and once again proved they are the best. For the second time in succession, Ireland and Afghanistan will participate in the Twenty20 World Cup. Ireland, as the tournament winner will join Australia and the West Indies in Group B, while Afghanistan will compete in Group A which includes defending champions England and 2007 winners India.
Ireland, who finished runner up in the 2009 qualifier, avenged their defeat through a spirited allround show.
Restricting Afghanistan to 152 for seven, Ireland raced to a five wicket victory with five balls to spare. Paul Stirling was the architect of their victory through a breezy 79 off 38 balls with nine boundaries and three sixers.
‘Great comeback'
Answering a query from Gulf News on how pleasing it is to emerge as the champions especially after losing their first match to Namibia, Ireland skipper William Porterfield said: "It is so pleasing to win a trophy like this especially after we had a setback in the first day and then remain unbeaten. It was a fantastic effort and a great comeback from my lads."
Did Porterfield think the game had slipped out of his hands when Afghanistan posted an impressive 152 runs?
"I think 150 or 160 were on par on this wicket. It was a real good wicket and we bowled well on it. Paul Stirling came pretty hard on them with the bat. It was a very good game of cricket. The way we started in the last three games and the way we chased we were in a position to chase bigger scores so we knew we can do it if we could get off to a good start.
‘Aggressive plan'
"Stirling played fantastically scoring 60 runs in the first six overs to take the pressure off the lads who are to come in. In the last ten we only needed to run a ball for victory."
Porterfield revealed that playing aggressively was part of their plan. "In the last few games we came pretty hard at our opponents especially in the last game. Paul Stirling's aggression set the tone. Afghanistan got a good start but we always took a few wickets to push their run rate back We lost a bit of our momentum in the last over of the Afghanistan innings with two sixers but the way we played after losing my wicket to the first ball was fantastic."
Talking about his team's plans in the Twenty20 World Cup, Porterfield said: "It is a fresh challenge. We have just achieved our first goal of qualifying the tournament and win the tournament. Being in the group of Australia and West Indies it is going to be a tough task there is no reason that with our Twenty20 skills which has improved we will be in top of our game."
