Close Day 1: Ireland 251 (81 overs) O’Brien 78*, Balbirnine 36, Whittingham 3/23, Watt 3/60, Sole 3/79, Scotland 37/0 (10 overs), Munsey 23*, Coetzer 13*. [Scorecard]
Old celtic foes Ireland and Scotland met for the final round of Intercontinental Cup fixtures at Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday 29th November.
Mitchell Rao became Scotland’s 680 cap as he was named in the starting XI after Kyle Coetzer won the toss and elected to field first.
Ireland’s opener Paul Stirling looked to go on the attack early on as he took two boundaries from his first 5 deliveries before he edged behind off Stuart Whittingham.
The Scots continued to build the pressure in the field, removing William Porterfield (28) and Andrew Balbirnie (36) which triggered something of a mini collapse, and when Simi Singh edged a Whittingham delivery down the legside into the hands of Cross, Ireland found themselves on 124/6.
Dockrell hung around (15 from 41 balls) to offer Kevin O’Brien support as he battled away in the heat. Dockrell was eventually done by a quick short-pitched delivery from Chris Sole and could only nick it through to Cross as he tried to fend it off.
Debutant Rao was then to create a moment to remember as he sent a flighted delivery down to Boyd Rankin, which deceived the batsman and clattered into his stumps to give him his first international wicket, with the score on 166/8.
However, a plucky performance by O’Brien and resolute stands with Tim Murtagh (18) and Peter Chase (11) ensured Ireland would conclude on 251, with O’Brien finishing on 78*.
Whittingham, Mark Watt and Chris Sole all collected 3 wickets each, while Rao accounted for the other.
George Munsey opened the Scotland innings with captain Coetzer and played watchfully for the 10 overs remaining in the day. The Scots were 8/0 at the end of the 7th over but then accelerated – stroking six boundaries between them – to conclude on 37/0 at the close of play.
Day 2 will get underway tomorrow morning 5:30am GMT
