Ireland crushed by UAE
A superb all-round display by Rohan Mustafa saw hosts UAE trounce Ireland in a one-sided contest in Abu Dhabi. Having been put into bat, Ireland struggled to come to terms with the sluggish pitch, and the Emiratis battery of slow bowlers strangled the Irish top order.
Even the normally fluent Paul Stirling found it difficult to score at more than a run-a-ball. He did manage to score his 7th T20I half century of the year, emulating the record set by Virat Kohli.
Paul Stirling during his innings of 72 (©ICC)
He shared a stand of 52 with Mark Adair, but his dismissal for 72 off 58 balls sparked an end-of-innings collapse that saw an incredible six wickets fall in the last nine balls, with Ireland finishing all out for 125. Left-arm spinner Rohan Mustafa claimed an excellent 4-18 from his spell - his best bowling figures in T20Is.
Mustafa then unleashed a barrage of boundaries in the chase, striking seven in the first two overs as Gary Wilson's gamble to open with George Dockrell and Paul Stirling back-fired spectacularly as the UAE raced to 32 for 0 after two overs. From there the hosts were able to canter to the win, despite the best efforts of Mark Adair, who was the stand-out Irish bowler.
Darius da Silva plays forcefully off the back foot (©ICC)
Harry Tector showed his fielding prowess at point with two run outs, but by that stage it was all academic as the match as a contest was over, as UAE eased to the five-wicket win with plenty to spare.
"We felt batting was difficult. Paul Stirling is one of the best ball strikers in world cricket and he was telling us it was difficult going," said captain Gary Wilson afterwards. But obviously when Rohan Mustafa comes out and plays like that it kills the game. I thought we bowled relatively well after that.
"I thought the UAE bowled very well, they knew the conditions well, which certainly helped them, but hopefully we'll come back strong in a couple of days against Oman. Of course there are areas of our game that need to be better, but credit must go firstly to the UAE boys for the way they played."