Thursday, 23 February 2012

Stirling Work Sees Ireland Win Again


An impressive all-round performance by Paul Stirling helped Ireland complete a convincing eight wicket win in their second T20 international in Mombasa.

Stirling struck nine boundaries in his unbeaten 65 from just 52 balls, to help Ireland make light of a potentially tricking 132 target.

Skipper William Porterfield showled glimpses of a return to form with a breezy 23 from 22 balls (3 fours, 1 six) as he and Stirling shared an opening stand of 63 in 7.2 overs to put Ireland firmly in control.

Although Kevin O'Brien (9) went cheaply, Gary Wilson scored a run a ball 22 to help Ireland win with 15 balls to spare.

Earlier David Obuya (28), Patel (27) and Alex Obanda (14*) all got starts in an improved Kenyan batting display, but their total of 131 for 7 provided little difficulty for the Irish batsmen.

Paul Stirling (2-21) was the pick of the attack, with the other wicket takers being John Mooney (1-19), Kevin O'Brien (1-19), George Dockrell (1-23) and Max Sorensen (1-30).

Andrew White was given the honour of leading the Ireland side out onto the field on the occasion of his 200th appearance for Ireland, but given their complete domination didn't feature with either bat or ball.

The win keeps Ireland in 9th position in the ICC rankings, and their tour of Kenya concludes tomorrow when they play the third T20 international at the earlier time of 8am (GMT).