Ireland will face West Indies and Scotland in the first round of the T20 World Cup in Australia, plus the winner of the second qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe in July, after they lost their qualifying final to UAE in Oman.

For around 10 overs of yesterday’s game, though, Ireland scented a rare victory against their nemesis in the shortest format.

Having been reduced to 18 for three, Ireland’s middle-lower order came to the party and reached a total of 159. Six overs into UAE reply, they were 21 for two but next ball Shane Getkate misjudged a catch on the square leg boundary, eventually taking it on the wrong side of the rope and Muhammed Waseem was on his way.

The 28-year-old opener had scored a ridiculous 107 out of 139 against Ireland in Dubai last October and yesterday he topped his career best to make 112 out of 153 before he finally holed out to Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie in the covers.

His partnership of 141 with Rohan Mustafa was a record for the third wicket against Ireland as UAE made it five wins in a row against the team they still head in the rankings.

“After the powerplay with the ball we were in the driving seat but he (Waseem) seemed to do all his damage outside the first six overs, which doesn’t happen too often.

“We knew how good a player he was but we were a few runs short on a good batting wicket, but after the start we had to get 160 was a fighting effort. But they were too good on the day and that knock was incredible.”

Ireland cannot head into a World Cup relying on their top three to score runs and with, hopefully 15 T20 fixtures to come before they play their first game in Hobart on October 17, there is still plenty of time to get the selection right.

But, with Harry Tector scoring his second T20 half-century, Shane Getkate, in for George Dockrell, finally showing his hitting prowess in a green shirt with 30 from 19 balls and three sixes, and Mark Adair and Barry McCarthy, replacing the injured Craig Young, hitting quick runs at the end, there are positives.

Balbirnie willalso need depth to his bowling –he has relied on just his front five in this tournament – and when Gareth Delany was called up after Andy McBrine’s second over had gone for 13, his disappeared for 17.
But Waseem was in a class of his own yesterday.

SCORES: Ireland 159 (20 overs, H Tector 50, S Getkate 30, L Tucker 20, M Adair 20, B McCarthy 15, P Stirling 12; Zahoor Khan 3-29, R Mustafa 3-30) UAE 160-3 (Muhammad Waseem 112, R Mustafa 37; J Little 2-17, A McBrine 1-29). UAE won by seven wickets