#CWC15 day 12: #IrevUAE

It was hangover of Gayle's double hundred on day 12 and it was clash of associates on that day. It was a clash between Ireland and UAE. Poterfield made it clear in press conference that Ireland's first target is to get qualified for quarter finals first. So it was clear that Ireland was going to go hard at UAE. On other UAE had played alot against them in qualifying tournaments. So they knew their weaknesses and was ready to spoil Irish party.

Game 16: Ireland vs UAE

Ireland won the toss and Poterfield chose to field first. We all know how good Ireland is at chasing totals. UAE was off to a solid start. Openers didn't give anything away in first 10 overs. UAE scored 44 runs in first 10 overs without loosing a wicket. Poterfield brought Stirling in 10th over as Scotish openers were getting comfortable against irish fast bowlers. It worked for Poterfield as Stirling struck in his second over. He sent Berenger back on 13 of 25 balls. On the other hand Amjad Ali was batting pretty well. Stirling was on a mission. He struck again on the first ball of his third over. This time he sent Krishna Chandran back who tried to play the delivery with an angled bat which was angled in by Stirling. He edged it and it went staright into the hands of Kevin O'Brein who completed the catch on second attempt. After a solid start UAE was 53/2.

Next man in was Khurram Khan who started building partnership with Amjad Ali but Ali was not able to hold himself for long. He got out on 45 and UAE was 73/3. Next to go was Patil who caught an edge on a delivery which bounced a bit more than expected. Both of these wickets were taken by Kevin O'Brein. UAE were in all sorts of trouble at 78/4. Anwar joined Khurram Khan in the middle and again both of them tried to build partnership. They were successful too in that to an extent as they carried on well till 125. At 125 a delivery of Dockrell hurried a bit and hit the front pad of Khurram Khan and he was given out. UAE lost their fifth wicket in form of Khurram Khan. Mustafa was the next batsman but his stay at the crease was really short as he edged Cusack's back of the length delivery staright to the keeper. UAE 131/6. UAE had lost two wickets in quick succession after every good looking partnership. Ireland was looking to wrap the UAE innings as quickly as possible then. So Poterfield set an attacking field after UAE lost their sixth wicket.

Javed joined Anwar and both of them started the counter attack. An attacking field set allowed them to play freely. They were getting boundary every over which put Irish bowlers under presssure. Soon Anwar brought up his half century and was looking really dangerous. 200 was up by the end of 42nd over and UAE was back in the match. After that it was way to go for UAE. 100 run partnership came up between then of just 65 balls. Then Javed got out only 8 short of his half century. UAE lost their 7th wicket on 238. 250 came up in 48th over as Anwar carried on with his hard hitting. Anwar brought up his 100 of just 79 balls and it was one hell of an innings. It brought UAE back in the match and took them to the respectable total. UAE finished on 278/9 of its 50 overs. According to me it was pretty good total on the board after 131/6 kind of start. Ireland felt the heat during that innings.

Ireland was not off to a great start as they lost Stirling quite early. Stirling got out on 3 and Ireland was in trouble at 4/1. UAE bowlers contained Poterfield and Joyce pretty well. They were not allowed to free their arms. UAE bowlers bowled pretty tight line to them but the luck was with Ireland I guess. The point came in the game when the ball hit the stumps but bails didn't come off. Joyce got a life there. Joyce was not able to make most of it as he tried to drive the ball away from his body and was caught behind on 72. He made 37 of 49 balls. Not only Joyce, Poterfield as well was not able to capitalise on the start he got. Poterfield also made 37 but of 64 balls. I think he wasted lot of balls in the middle. Niall O'Brein too was not able to hold himself for too long in the middle. Ireland was 97/4 after the loss of Niall O'Brein's wicket in the 26th over. UAE was sensing victory at that stage.

Balbirnie and Wilson started the rescue job. They didn't had much time to settle in but they did a fair job. Both of them added 74 runs of 80 balls before Balbirnie got out. Ireland reached the total of 171 when Balbirnie was dismissed. Everything was on Kevin O'Brein as required rate was more than 9.5 runs per over in last 10 overs. Wilson completed his half century by then and was itching to go big. Even Kevin O'Brein had no other option but to go for big hits. Kevin O'Brein started looking dangerous as he was getting boundaries at ease after the completion of 40 overs. On the first ball of 43rd over he skied one and tried to clear long off but he didn't got the elevation. It went under the throat of long off fielder and he dropped it. It was turning point of the match. Kevin O'Brein went on to make half century of just 24 balls. Unfortunately he got out on 25th ball of his innings. By the time he got out, he took his team to winning position. Ireland was 243/6 in 45th over when Mooney joined Wilson at crease. Ireland looked comfortable to win the match at that point of the game. Wilson hit two fours in 46th over then Mooney got out after wasting 47th over. Again Wilson hit two back to back fours on the first two balls of 48th over then he himself got out on the third ball.

Wilson's wicket brought another twist in the match. Ireland was 267/8 at that stage and 12 runs were required of 15 balls. Cusack and Dockrell were at the crease. Imagine the tension and nerves in both the camps. Dockrell hit four on the second last ball of 49th over to release the presssure. Then 3 runs were required of last over which were made in two balls. Hence Ireland won the match with 4 balls remaining. It was the tightest finish of the world cup so far. I can say that it was great game of cricket which went down to the wire. It increased the standard of the game. Kevin O'Brein along with Wilson turned match in Ireland's favour and UAE was not able to spoil Irish party. Only thing I missed in that match was chicken dance. I witnessed some Karate pose from Kevin O'Brein though.

It was great day of cricket and it was good to see two associate teams play such quality cricket. Day 13 again feature two associates Afghanistan and Scotland. Afghanistan want to make this world cup memorable. So they will look for their first win in world cup cricket while Scotland will be ready to stop them. The other match is between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In which Sri Lanka will play for their second win in this world cup while Bangladesh will try to do an upset.

#CWC15 day 13