T20 World Cup 2022, Day 6, Stats Round-Up: Gareth Delany’s best bowling figures, Paul Stirling’s feat, and other stats

The qualifying round of the T20 World Cup 2022 is finally done and dusted and the four teams Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Ireland, and Zimbabwe enter the main draw of the tournament beginning on Saturday, October 22, 2022. On the final day of the round, the Irish side stunned the two-time champion West Indies as they defeated them by a big margin of nine wickets. The other encounter saw the Zimbabweans knocking the Scottish side out of the competition with a five-wicket victory in Hobart.

Speaking about how the first match panned out, skipper Nicholas Pooran won the toss and opted to bat first. Openers Kyle Mayers and Johnson Charles mustered one and 24 respectively while Evin Lewis made 13. Brandon King was the standout performer for the Caribbean side as he remained unbeaten on 62 off 48 with six fours and a six. Pooran’s poor form stretched as he amassed just 13 while Rovman Powell scored only six. Gareth Delany was the pick of the Irish bowlers for his career-best spell of 3/16 in four overs. The Men in Maroon managed to post only 146/5 on the board in their allotted 20 overs.

Chasing just 147, Paul Stirling roared back into form in style as he and captain Andrew Balbirnie stitched a 73-run opening partnership. The duo put on 64 in the powerplay, Ireland’s best ever in the first six overs in T20 World Cups. Balbirinie got dismissed for 37 off 23 which included three fours and as many maximums. Incoming batter Lorcan Tucker looked in a hurry as he smashed 45 off just 35. Stirling remained not out on 66 off 48 with him and Tucker racing away to the target in just 17.3 overs. For his match-winning spell, Delany grabbed the Player of the Match award. With this, two-time WC winners West Indies got knocked out of the competition in a shocking way after defeats to Scotland and Ireland.

In the other game, captain Richie Berrington won the toss and elected to bat first. George Munsey hit yet another half-century with the opening batter amassing 54. Pacers Tendai Chatara and Richard Ngarava picked up two wickets apiece while Sikandar Raza bowled a tight spell of 1/20 (4) as Zimbabwe restricted the Scottish to just 132/6 in 20 overs. Chasing just 133, Regis Chakabva fell early for just four with Wessly Madhevere and Sean Williams amassing only zero and seven respectively. Captain Craig Ervine held his side’s innings together as he made 58 off 54. But the star performer for the Zimbabweans was yet again Raza who played a quickfire innings of 40 off just 23. Zimbabwe reached their target in 18.3 overs with five wickets in hand to eliminate Scotland from the tournament. For his all-round show, Raza won the Player of the Match award.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from Day 6 in Group B matches between West Indies and Ireland and Scotland and Zimbabwe in T20 WC 2022:

351 – Paul Stirling reached 350 fours in T20 internationals. He became the first batter to achieve the feat with Babar Azam in the second spot for hitting 342 fours.

21 – Stirling scored his first half-century after 21 T20I innings. His last fifty came against Oman in February this year.

3/16 – Gareth Delany achieved his best bowling figures of 3/16 in T20 internationals. Previously, he took 3/33 against Afghanistan in Belfast this year.

66* - Stirling also registered the second-highest individual score of 66* for Ireland in the T20 World Cups. Curtis Campher’s knock of 72* against Scotland in this edition tops the chart.

48 – Nicholas Pooran has managed to amass only 48 runs in his last eight innings at a poor average of 6.00 with the best score of 15.

64/0 – Ireland recorded their highest score of 64/0 in the powerplay in the T20 World Cups. Their previous best was 61/0 which came against Zimbabwe in Sylhet in the year 2014.

2 – Irish power-hitter Stirling also scripted the second-highest individual score of 66* for Ireland against West Indies in the T20I format. He also occupies the top spot for hitting 95 at St.George’s in the year 2020.

17 – Sikandar Raza equaled Grant Flower at the top for winning the most POTM awards (17) for Zimbabwe across formats.

6 – Craig Ervine is now tied with Raza and Brendan Taylor in the fourth spot for the most 50+ scores (6) for Zimbabwe in T20Is. Hamilton Masakadza (11), Sean Williams (9), and Wessly Madhevere (7) take the first three slots.

652 – Raza has now scored the third-most runs (652) amongst the full members in 2022. Mohammad Rizwan and Suryakumar Yadav are in the top two positions for amassing 821 and 801 respectively.