Ireland and Afghan dominate with the ball ICC I-Cup - Day 2 Report

Ireland and Afghan dominate with the ball ICC I-Cup – Day 2 Report: Ireland got better off UAE on the 2nd day as well, this time with the ball as the United Arab Emirates lost 8 wickets for 207 in reply to Ireland’s 492. On other hand, Scotland-Afghanistan match began after a washout on Day 1 with the Afghan side had the Scots 8 down for 227 in the 67 overs which were possible on day 2.

Ireland start the day at 420 for 3 but soon saw themselves collapsed to 435 for 7 as Amjad Javed’s tight and disciplined bowling got 3 off the 4 wickets the Irish lost in the first hour. Ed Joyce who began the day at the score of 229 got out adding just 2 more runs. Another overnight batsman Balbarine followed Joyce to the pavilion for just 10 runs. Gary Wilson and John Mooney were seen returning to pavilion leaving Ireland in a spot of bother.

Kevin O’Brian and George Dockrell scored 29 and 22 respectively, the only notable contributors with the bat for Ireland on 2nd morning. As a result, Ireland was bowled out for 492 with Amjad Javed picking up 4 wickets.

In reply UAE lost Amjad Ali early but they had a solid stand going between Asif Iqbal and Saqib Ali. They shared 57 runs before Craig Young cleaned up Asif for 43. Soon in his next over, Young trapped Saqib in front of the stumps for 27. Later Khurram Khan and Swapnil Patil looked like settling the things with a quick fire fifty run stand. They shared a 51 run stand in just 10 overs for 4th wicket before Khurram was dismissed for 24 by Mooney. Soon Mooney even sent Patil back to the pavilion leading towards a collapse. With Dockrell striking twice, UAE were down to 162 for 8. But Shaiman Anwar, UAE’s batting sensation in the World Cup didn’t let away without a fight. He continued his good form in this game as well by scoring an unbeaten fifty.

Along with Mohammad Naveed, Anwar shared an unbeaten stand of 45 as Naveed scored 13 in it. Anwar brought up his fifty in the penultimate over of the day by hitting a boundary. He scored 52 in 82 balls with help of 8 fours and a six.

Brief Scorecard:

UAE: 207 for 8 in 69 overs (S Anwar 52*, A Iqbal 43; JF Mooney 3/36, CA Young 3/46) trail by 285 runs

Ireland: 492 all out in 118.3 overs (Ed Joyce 231; A Javed 4/117)

After the Day 1 off the Scotland-Afghanistan game got abandoned due to bad outfield, play got underway on Day 2 only after a delay. Afghanistan who won the toss decided to bat first under cloudy day.

Afghanistan got an early wicket but Scotland recovered well with Gardiner and Mommsen’s 68 run stand for 2nd wicket. However, Nabi got rid of Gardiner for 46 and Coleman for 5 putting Scots in a sort of trouble. Mommsen got a good support from MacLeod as he put on another 50 run stand. In this process, Mommsen got past his fifty in 97 deliveries. The 67 runs stand for the 4th wicket came to an end when Shenwari got Mommsen for 77 which had 9 boundaries in it.

Shenwari seen the returning of MacLeod for 38 in his next over as Scots lost their 5th wicket. Mirwais and Rahmat picked up a wicket each as Scotland lost 7 for 224 before Shenwari got his 3rd wicket increasing the troubles for Scotland. Cross remained unbeaten on 27 wagging with tail as they finished on 227 for 8.

Brief Scorecard:

Scotand: 227 for 8 in 67 overs (PL Mommsen 77, HJW Gardiner 46; S Shenwari 3/18, M Nabi 2/30) vs Afghanistan