Ireland’s hopes of reaching the T20 World Cup Super Eight were dealt a major blow as debutants Canada triumphed by 12 runs in New York to record their first victory in the tournament.
Paul Stirling’s side have now lost two consecutive matches after suffering a heavy eight-wicket defeat against India at the same venue on Wednesday, when they were bowled out for 96 in 16 overs on a challenging batting pitch.
Ireland tried to surpass Canada’s 137-7 two days later but were restricted to 125-7, with Andy Balbirnie (17) and Lorcan Tucker (10) the only two of their top five batsmen to reach double figures.
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Aaron Johnson’s stunning fine-leg catch off Curtis Campher helped Canada beat Ireland in the T20 World Cup.
George Dockrell (30 off 23) and Mark Adair (34 off 24) had a half-century partnership in the 13th over to take Ireland from 59-6 and reduce them to 17 no centuries off the final six balls.
But Canadian fast bowler Jeremy Gordon (2-16) conceded just four runs and caught Adair with his own delivery to give the North Americans a shock win for the second day in a row. Co-hosts USA stunned 2009 champions and 2022 runners-up Pakistan in the Super Over.
Ireland’s next must-win match is against the USA in Florida on Friday 14 June (kick-off 3.30pm), while Canada, who lost to the USA by seven wickets in their tournament-opening match in Dallas, take on Pakistan in New York on Tuesday 11 June (kick-off 3.30pm).
Canada’s total against Ireland was bolstered by a fifth-wicket stand of 63 balls for Nicholas Kirton (49 off 35 balls) and Shreyas Mova (37 off 36 balls) who shared 75 runs in the 5th wicket match (53-4), with both players starring once again after their knocks of 51 and 32 respectively against the USA.
Canada’s Kilton and Mova score goals as Ireland lose again
The drop-in pitch at the Long Island venue had come under criticism following poor scores by Sri Lanka and Ireland – the latter beaten by 77 runs by South Africa at this ground on Monday – and a number of batsmen, including India captain Rohit Sharma and Ireland’s Harry Tector, were hit by upward-floating balls.
After Ireland won the toss and fielded Canada, there was some bounce and seam movement in the Irish attack but the pitch was not as lively as in the previous two matches.
Josh Little missed out on his 150th wicket overall in T20 when Ireland failed to review Navneet Dailwal’s caught behind in the second over, Ultra Edge showing clear spikes off his gloves.
However, in the next over, Dhaliwal hit the recalled Craig Young (2-32) at backward point to Dockrell and Canada stumbled, but Carton and Mova rallied the innings.
Ireland seamer Mark Adair took figures of 1-23 from his four overs.
Kilton hit two sixes and a four in the top of the 16th over off Young to put him on 18, but in the 19th over Kilton was caught at fine leg off a delivery by Barry McCarthy (2-24) and Mova was run out for his second run off the last ball, meaning Canada could only manage 27 from the last four innings.
Ireland struggled to score runs, with captain Stirling (9 off 17) caught behind by a pull from Gordon in the final over of the powerplay before Balbiruni weakly chipped it back to leg-spinner Junaid Siddiqui (1-27) in the seventh over.
Stirling’s team continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, with Tucker conceding runs to an avoidable run-out and Curtis Campher (5) conceding a brilliant catch at fine leg by Aaron Johnson off a delivery by Dillon Heyliger (2-18), and the stand between Dockrell and Adair only narrowed the margin of Ireland’s defeat in New York.
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Eoin Morgan, Naser Hussain and Urooj Mumtaz join Ian Ward to talk about their dream T20 World Cup XI.
What’s next?
Four matches will be played in the T20 World Cup on Saturday. New Zealand v Afghanistan In Guyana, from 12:30 a.m., then Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh 1:30 a.m. in Grand Prairie, Texas.
The Netherlands will face South Africa in Long Island, New York, at 3:30 p.m. England – Tuesday’s opening match against Scotland was cancelled – Australia 6pm in Barbados.
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