Canada recorded their first-ever win in T20 World Cup history after beating Ireland by 12 runs in a Group A match which was played at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Ireland, a Test-playing nation, failed miserably against a new and inexperienced Canadian side as they failed to chase the 138-run target and failed to grab two points in the T20 World Cup points table.
After Canada’s emphatic win over Ireland, this is how the World Cup points table looks like:
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Ireland, just like Canada, had a poor start to their innings as after losing their skipper Paul Stirling for just 9 runs, the Irish batters continued to lose wickets and they were soon 59-6 in 12.3 overs with all of their batters namely Andrew Balbirnie, Lorcan Tucker, Harry Tecot and others walking back to the pavilion without scoring big runs.
George Dockrell (29 off 22) and Mark Adair (34 off 24) were Ireland's top performers with the bat but their brave effort was not enough to guide their team to victory.
For Canada, Jeremy Gordon and Dillon Heyliger bagged two wickets each while Junaid Siddiqui and skipper Saad bin Zafar picked one.
Earlier in the first innings, Canada set a 138-run target. They had a poor start as the Irish bowlers dominated and removed their top order in the first nine overs for just 53 runs. It looked like yet another low-scoring encounter in New York but Nicholas Kirton and Shreyas Movva saved them.
The two batters combined for a crucial 75-run partnership which steered Canada to a defendable total. Kirton played a commendable knock, missing out on his well-deserving half-century by just one run as he got out after scoring 49 runs on 35 balls.
However, Movva remained on the wicket till the last ball and helped his team conclude their innings at 137-7.
For Ireland, Craig Young and Barry McCarthy took two wickets each while Gareth Delany and Mark Adair managed to get one each.
Meanwhile, Ireland's skipper Paul Stirling won the toss and opted to bat first.
