Stirling shines with 162 as Ireland ends the campaign with a big win

Ireland 349 for 4 (Stirling 162, Balbirnie 66, Tector 57, Sanchit 3-46) count UAE 211 (Waseem 45, Sanchit 44, Dockrell 2-32, McBrine 2-34) with 138 runs

But that was the fate that the UAE – another team knocked out of contention before this game – couldn’t avoid as they slid to 211 all-out on a good batting trajectory.

Stirling branded his authority from ball one. With some swing in the beginning, Junaid Siddique put him on and Stirling leaned out onto the driveway and caressed him between the covers. That was an ominous sign of things to come from the grand opener.

Stirling remained vigilant for the first ten overs, even as Andy McBrine started to pick up the pace after a slow start. Sanchit was introduced to the attack after seven overs and made an immediate impact, trapping McBrine lbw with a long ball that seamed in from the outside.

But Stirling immediately put the pressure back on the bowlers with two back-to-back fours in Ali Naseer’s next over. He spent his half-century with 56 deliveries.

Balbirnie, who came into the game with scores of 12, 0 and 7 in his last three games, was a bit slow taking the role of anchor while Stirling watched the scoreboard.

Stirling reached his century with 98 balls in the 34th over, plowing Aayan Afzal Khan over the midwicket to reach his 14th ODI hundred. Balbirnie reached his fifty on the last pitch of that over and both batters hit a six each off Karthik Meiyappan in the next.

Basil Hameed came on as the UAE searched for wickets and Stirling greeted him with three sixes. Stirling and Balbirnie added 184 off 178 balls for the second wicket. After Balbirnie fell to Naseer in the 39th over, Tector came in and tied the runs with Stirling.

But there was no relief for the UAE, as Tector put them to the sword and put up his half-century with just 30 balls. He became Sanchit’s third victim of the game in the penultimate over, but George Dockrell and Tucker took 16 runs from the last over to set up a 350-run goal.

In the chase, Waseem dominated the opening stages, hitting 45 of 58 runs scored before getting out. A long ball from Barry McCarthy shot up and hit him on the gloves. The ball rolled towards cover, but Waseem grimaced from the blow and began to walk towards the square leg umpire while signaling a physio, not realizing the ball was not yet dead. Balbirnie was keen on what was happening and when he saw Waseem wandering beyond his fold he dove in and threw down the stumps.

His opening partner Aryansh Sharma soon finished due to his lack of footwork, cutting a short and wide throw from McCarthy straight to point. Little, returning for another spell, returned Vriitya Aravind and Ethan D’Souza in successive overs. McBrine put Ireland in charge with two wickets in the 21st.

Sanchit, who was the UAE’s best bowler, also impressed with the bat as he and Hameed added 70 runs for the seventh wicket, but were just able to take them to a respectable total, with Ireland’s score never in danger of being chased . They both hit three sixes each before Hameed skied a sweep from Dockrell to a deep back square.

Sanchit quickly followed and tricked Curtis Campher for too long before the Irish bowlers swept the tail to take a consolation win.