IN THE END, Ireland got across the line but captain William Porterfield conceded they were nearly made to pay for getting their plans wrong against UAE.
Phil Simmons’ men were indebted to a match-winning partnership between Gary Wilson and Kevin O’Brien, one which swung the game decisively in Ireland’s favour, but Porterfield admitted his bowlers, in particular, didn’t execute the plans they had in place.
“We didn’t get it 100 percent right,” he said. “A few of the plans, as well, we can maybe look at, but it is a very difficult time of the game.
“When you have a team 130 for 6 it is slightly disappointing to come off the way they did, but you’ve got to give them a lot of credit the way they struck the ball and the way they played.”
Just like Nelson last week, Porterfield elected to field first upon winning the toss in order to give his bowlers first use of the conditions. However, unlike the Saxton Oval, and with this being a day/night game, it become harder to bat under the lights as the game wore on.
“We could have batted first and made first use of it. To be honest I didn’t think but it did slow up slightly toward the second innings, which I didn’t really expect.
“I thought it was a big ground and was going to be very hard to defend on, especially the rules the last couple years, four men up, it is very hard to defend.
“That’s why we decided to bowl first.”
Ireland slipped to 97-4 in pursuit of 280 but Wilson and O’Brien combined to devastating effect as they plundered 72 from six overs between them to bring Ireland within sight of victory.
“Wickets in hand are always a big thing, especially when you’ve got lads like Kev [O’Brien] and Wilson coming in,” Porterfield said. “One key factor was the way we played in the last 20 overs of our innings.
“It was a bit closer than we would have wanted but we’d take that any day of the week. Confidence is high in the squad, and the fixtures start coming thicker and faster now.”
Meanwhile, Kevin O’Brien has been fined 30% of his match fee for disputing an umpire’s decision during the game in Brisbane.
The all-rounder was found to have breached the section of the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct relating to “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision” when he bowled a wide in the 48th over of the UAE innings.
And, according to a statement from the ICC, he then “continued to question the umpire’s decision until bowling the next ball”.
Ireland have now won both of their Pool B games and head to Canberra to face South Africa on Monday.
