NEW YORK: The T20 World Cup 2024 has registered another upset as inexperienced Canada secured its first victory of the tournament by defeating Ireland by 12 runs in the 13th clash of the mega tournament.
The encounter, held at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Friday, witnessed an excited contest between the two teams.
After invited to bat first, Canada encountered a challenging start as the Irish bowlers dominated in the initial overs, dismissing their top-order batsmen within the first nine overs for just 53 runs on the scoreboard.
Despite the shaky start, Canada managed to post a competitive total of 137 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their allocated 20 overs with contributions from Nicholas Curtin. He scored a commendable 49 runs, and Shreyas Mowa, who added 37 runs, steadied the ship. Other commendable performances came from Pragat Singh, scoring 18 runs, and Aaron Johnson, contributing 14 runs.
Chasing the 138 runs target, Ireland faced a challenging start, losing wickets at regular intervals. The first wicket fell at 26 runs, followed by subsequent dismissals at 32, 41, 50, 53, and 59 runs, respectively. Paul Stirling managed to accumulate 9 runs, while Andy Balburnie contributed 17, and Harry Tector could only muster 7. Lorcan Tucker and Curtis Campher scored 10 and 4 runs, respectively, while Gareth Delaney added 3 runs.
Mark Adair was the top scorer from the Ireland side, who managed to score 34 runs, and George Dockrell, remaining unbeaten at 30 runs.
Canada’s bowlers played a pivotal role who never let the Ireland settle and defended their total, with Jeremy Gordon and Dalvin Heliger grabbing two wickets each, supported by Junaid Siddiqui and Saad Bin Zafar, who secured one wicket apiece, effectively dismantling the Irish batting lineup.
Despite Ireland’s seventh-wicket pair valiant effort to chase down the target with a 62 runs stand, fell short of 12 runs.
