IRELAND will travel to Tasmania in October to play the West Indies, Scotland and the winner of the second qualifier in the first round of the 2022 T20 World Cup, after losing to the United Arab Emirates today in Muscat.

While Hobart may be a more desirable destination than Geelong in Victoria, had Ireland won the qualifying final, the Boys in Green would have found themselves in a slightly easier group with Sri Lanka and Namibia plus one other.

But as skipper Andy Balbirnie was quick to point out after losing a fifth successive T20 to the UAE by seven wickets, the winners were the tournament’s best team, losing only once to 9/1 underdogs Bahrain - a result that was never going to derail their progress.

Harry Tector, who wasn’t in Ireland’s starting XI only a week ago, top scored with 50 in the final, including three sixes, and gave more glimpses that he can adapt his superb ODI game to the more immediate demands of T20s.

Tector’s partnership of 55 with Shane Getkate rescued his side from the mess of 67-6 but a total of 159 all out was blown away by Muhammad Waseem’s second T20 century against Ireland and the UAE eased home with eight balls to spare.

“We’re disappointed but the UAE were probably the best side in the tournament,” Balbirnie said. “We had a good powerplay with the ball and had them 12-2, but when someone scores a century striking at nearly 200 it’s hard to stop. That was the difference.

“There’s a lot of pleasing aspects of how the week went, and we obviously qualified for the World Cup, which was the main aim. We’re really looking forward to going to Australia, it’s a great place to tour, and it’ll be a great challenge.”

Balbirnie paid tribute to interim coach David Ripley whose three months in charge started shakily with a loss to the USA, soared with a 2-1 ODI victory over the West Indies in Jamaica then World Cup qualification before ending in defeat yesterday.

“It’s been a blessing to have him come in at a tricky time and have the impact he has,” Balbirnie said, of the Englishman. “He’s a great man, someone we have a lot of time for, and he just said there in the changing room] that he’s an Irishman for life now.”