Ireland’s hopes of reaching the Super 8s of the T20 World Cup were dealt a serious blow when debutants Canada recorded their first victory in the tournament, winning by 12 runs in New York.
Paul Stirling’s side have now lost two matches out of two following their eight-wicket thrashing of India at the same venue on Wednesday, a match in which they were bowled out for 96 in 16 overs on a pitch that grabbed headlines logs and that proved difficult for the stick.
Ireland were held to 125-7 two days later as they attempted to beat Canada’s 137-7, with only Andy Balbirnie (17) and Lorcan Tucker (10) reaching double figures among the top five hitters.
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Aaron Johnson’s superb catch at fine leg removed Curtis Campher as Canada beat Ireland at T20 World Cup
George Dockrell (30 off 23) and Mark Adair (34 off 24) rallied Ireland from 59-6 in the 13th over with a half-century partnership, reducing the requirement to 17 off the last six balls.
But Canadian quick Jeremy Gordon (2-16) conceded just four runs and caught Adair off his own bowling as the North American team pulled off the second shock in as many days, after co-hosts USA stunned 2009 champions and 2022 runners-up Pakistan in a Super Over.
Ireland’s next must-win match is against the USA in Florida on Friday June 14 (3.30pm start), while Canada – who lost to the USA by seven wickets in the tournament opener in Dallas – will face Pakistan in New York on Tuesday June 11 (3:30 p.m.). to start).
Canada’s total against Ireland was buoyed by a fifth-wicket stand of 75 from 63 balls in 53-4 between Nicholas Kirton (49 from 35 deliveries) and Shreyas Movva (37 from 36), with both players once again featuring after strikes of 51 and 32 no. respectively against the United States.
Kirton and Movva shoot for Canada as Ireland lose again
Walk-in pitches at the Long Island venue had been criticized following low scores by Sri Lanka and Ireland – Sri Lanka were bowled out for 77 by South Africa on the pitch on Monday – and from a number of batters, including Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and Ireland’s Harry Tector, hit to the body by bucking deliveries.
There were rebounds and seam moves for the Irish attack after winning the toss and inserting Canada, although the pitch was not as lively as in the previous two matches.
Josh Little missed out on a 150th wicket in all T20s after Ireland failed to check out Navneet Dhailwal caught behind in the second – with UltraEdge showing a clear edge on the glove.
However, Dhaliwal clipped the recalled Craig Young (2-32) to Dockrell at backward point in the next over and Canada stuttered before Kirton and Movva resumed the innings.
Irish seamer Mark Adair claimed figures of 1-23 from four overs
Kirton hit two sixes and a four during Young’s 18 runs in the 16th over, but Canada managed just 27 runs in the last four with Kirton caught on leg leg by Barry McCarthy (2-24) in the 19th over and Movva s escaped from the last one. ball attempting a second run.
Ireland struggled to score and skipper Stirling (9 off 17) perished in the final over of the powerplay, caught by Gordon, before Balbirnie meekly hit back at leg-spinner Junaid Siddiqui (1-27) in the seventh. on.
Stirling’s men continued to lose regular wickets, including Tucker to an avoidable runout and Curtis Campher (5) to a superb catch from Aaron Johnson off the bowling of Dillon Heyliger (2-18 ), and the Dockrell-Adair stand only reduced the margin of Irish defeat in New York.
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Eoin Morgan, Nasser Hussain and Urooj Mumtaz join Ian Ward to discuss their T20 World Cup XI dream.
And after?
There are four matches at the T20 World Cup on Saturday with New Zealand vs Afghanistan from 12:30 a.m. in Guyana then Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh starting at 1:30 a.m. in Grand Prairie, Texas.
The Netherlands take on South Africa from 3:30 p.m. in Long Island, New York, while England – whose opening match against Scotland on Tuesday was canceled – face Australia in Barbados from 6 p.m.
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