Another Irish win but not by the wide margin of the previous day. Denmark were not bowled out in the 50 overs when they decided to bat first. In reply it took Ireland into the 46th over before the five wicket win was achieved.

After a long gap Ireland returned to play at Rathmines, Dublin, the home of Leinster Cricket Club. The pitch and general arrangements were well up to the usual Leinster standard. The pitch was hard, straw coloured and had a slight touch of green.

Ireland made two changes from the previous day's match against Norway. Porterfield had now been released by Gloucestershire and captained the team for the sixth time. Connell also returned. Out went Fourie and Cusack. McKenna retained his place. This was the 17th match against Denmark since the first took place in 1970 and it was the 12th limited overs match. Their team never seems to change much and all the usual names were in it.

Two left-handers opened, Klokker, plays for Derbyshire, and M.Pedersen. Klokker took 10 off Connell's first over, including a four off the first ball full toss and another off his toes to wide mid-wicket. Pedersen square cut McKenna for a four in the fourth over. The sixth, seventh and eighth overs were all maidens. Connell took the first wicket with the second ball of the ninth over when he had Pedersen LBW. 28-1-5. Carsten Pedersen came in to replace his brother. He has now most caps for Denmark and, unlike his brother, he is right handed.

The score after 10 overs was 32. Botha, in the 12th over, and O'Brien, in the 15th, came on to bowl. O'Brien's first over was a maiden. All the power plays were used up in the first 20 overs. Klokker hit both the change bowlers for fours and 50 came up in the 18th over. In over 20 Carsten Pedersen gave Botha a difficult caught and bowled chance. It was not expensive. Four balls later Pedersen played a poor shot which lobbed up to mid-on. 60-2-8. S. Vestergaard was next but the fourth ball he faced got him out. Off the back foot he hit O'Brien straight to short extra cover. 62-3-0. Overgaard joined Klokker who was now 35. Both hit fours. Spin made its appearance for over 25 when McCallan came on and Kidd came on for over 26. In McCallan's first over Overgaard was fortunate. He lobbed a shot to short fine leg which Wilson just could not reach.

78 was up after this 25th over. Klokker got to 50 in over 28. It came in 90 balls with seven fours. Overgaard was out in the next over. He went on to the back foot to McCallan and missed as the ball spun back to have him LBW. 88-4-9. Mahmood, fresh from under-19 cricket was next. He hit his fourth ball for four to extra cover. In over 30 Klokker hit a Kidd full toss for four and, next ball, another to third man. This brought up 104 at the end of over 30. After three overs by Kidd, O'Brien returned for over 32. Klokker hit the fourth ball for a high four to wide long-on. To the first ball of O'Brien's next over Mahmood had a rather crude cross batted swipe and lobbed the ball to mid-off. 114-5-9.

Chawla came in. It was now surprising that Klokker did not begin to increase the pace and dominate the strike. When Mahmood was out Klokker was 66 out of 114 and had faced 102 balls. The sixth pair put on 12 of which Chawla got 8. Then, in the 37th over, Chawla came down the pitch to McCallan, missed and was bowled. 126-6-8. Lars Hedegaard came and went fairly quickly. He collected six runs in 21 balls while Klokker was getting three runs in four balls. The score after 40 overs was 136 and only 32 runs had come since over 30. In over 41, McCallan's ninth, the fifth ball jagged back to leave Hedegaard LBW. 137-7-6. Morten Hedegaard, brother of Lars, was next. He stayed until the end of the innings getting 21 runs from 28 balls. The "ends" bowlers were White (who had only bowled 15 overs in 2008) and Botha. Klokker collected a few more runs, including a square cut four off Botha in over 43. In over 46, going for a big hit off White, he skied in the air and was caught by the only slip. 161-8-85. He faced 126 balls and hit 11 fours but for a man of his ability should have done a lot more to take command as wickets fell about him.

T.Hansen was next but was out to the only ball he faced. He was caught at the wicket off Botha in over 47. 167-9-0. H.Hansen arrived next with 20 balls left. In that time he and Morten Hedegaard could only manage 12 singles but the 10th wicket did not fall and the final score was 179-9. Ireland used no less than seven bowlers with Botha, O'Brien and McCallan all bowling 10 each. Five of the seven took wickets with McCallan's 3-32 the best.

Ireland's reply began very well. Porterfield adopted the sheet anchor role but did not neglect any opportunity to play shots as, indeed, did his partner, Wilson. These two were opening partners for the first time. All went well and quickly until over 17. The score was by now a healthy 77 when Lars Hedegaard began his fourth over. Wilson was LBW to the second ball and Stirling suffered a similar fate to the fourth ball.

The opening bowlers were the Hansens. Thomas was left-arm medium pace and moving the ball away. Henrik is on the quick side of medium pace. Thomas's second over was a maiden to Wilson. In Henrik's second Porterfield hit successive fours to extra cover and long-off. Wilson followed suit with fours in the next two overs, with a pull and a drive to extra cover. 20 was up in six overs. Morten Hedegaard, medium right arm, replaced Henrik Hansen for over 10 and his brother Lars came on for over 11 in which a 50 came up with a Wilson four to wide long-on.

Denmark called power plays at overs 11 and 16. In over 14 Wilson hit two fours off Morten Hedegaard and Porterfield hit fours in the next two overs, the second coming off the offspinner M.Pedersen who bowled the 16th over. Then came Lars Hedegaard's fatal 17th over. Wilson pushed out at the second ball and was LBW. 77-1-32. This 32 came off 52 balls with six fours. Two balls later Stirling was also caught in front. 77-2-0. Botha was next. He saw Porterfield play a maiden from M.Pedersen and, in the latter's next over, Botha hit two fours to bring up 86 in 20 overs. M.Pedersen's fourth over, the 22nd, was fatal to Botha. Most unlike him he had a big swing but only succeeded in lobbing the ball to slip (T.Hansen) who juggled before catching it. 93-3-9.

White came in and there was a stand of 38 but it took just over 14 overs. The stand began slowly with Lars Hedegaard and M.Pedersen bowling. The 25th over was a Hedegaard maiden to Porterfield and when Morten Hedegaard came back for over 31 he too bowled a maiden to Porterfield. 100 had come up in over 28. It had now become cloudy and windy. In over 32 Porterfield went to 50 with a single. This was his third 50 in succession and eighth in all. It took 98 balls and contained seven fours. After another four to each batsmen Porterfield was out in over 36. It was hoped he would play the sheet anchor role right to the end but it was not to be. In over 35 White was dropped at slip off Morten Hedegaard when he was 31 and the total 125.

Chawla, legspin and well-known to the Irish, was on for over 36. White played four dot balls and took a single off the fifth. Then Porterfield lost the head. He rushed down the pitch, missed and was bowled after a wild swing. There was absolutely no need for this rash stroke. 131-4-58. Porterfield's innings lasted 111 balls and contained eight fours.

49 runs were needed with Strydom coming in. In Chawla's second over White hit a full toss for six to square leg. This was the first and only six of the entire match even on the narrow Rathmines ground. Strydom square cut Morten Hedegaard for a four in over 39 and the score after 40 overs was 152. Over 41 was Morten Hedegaard's ninth. White hit the third ball for a square leg four. The last ball saw wicket-keeper Klokker take a fast leg side catch to dismiss White. 158-5-30.

Kevin O'Brien arrived with 22 runs needed. He and Strydom got them in 28 balls. In Chawla's sixth over, the 46th of the innings, O'Brien hit two fours to win the match, one to wide long-on and another high to the same place. Three of Denmark's six bowlers bowled 10 overs each. None were expensive. Lars Hedegaard took 2-25.