T20 WC 2024: Canada bowlers successfully defend 138 runs against Ireland

New York [US], June 8 (ANI): Brilliant bowling performance by Canada bowlers helped the side to successfully defend a mere total of 138 runs against Ireland in the ICC T20 World Cup clash at the Nassau International Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Ireland openers Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie started off the chase carefully. Both of them put on 26 runs before the first wicket fell.
Stirling was sent back to the pavilion at the score of nine when the team score was 26 in 5.4 overs. Following the skipper's departure, the Irish team struggled to score runs.
At the score of 32, the side lost their second wicket. Balbirnie was sent back after scoring 17 runs. He was dismissed by Junaid Siddiqui in the seventh over.
In the eighth over, the Ireland side lost the third wicket. Harry Tector was sent back to the pavilion after scoring seven runs.
The Ireland side completed their fifty in the 10th over as Lorcan Tucker took double. On the last ball of the same over he was dismissed by Saad Bin Zafar.
Inside nine runs, the Ireland team lost their fifth and sixth wicket. The fifth wicket fell at the score of 53 and the sixth wicket fell at the score of 59.
After the fall of six wickets, the Irish team were 59/6 in 12.3 overs with George Docrell and Mark Adair on the crease.
The team completed the 100-run mark in the 17th over as Adair smashed a maximum on the bowling of Kaleem Sana.
Both the batters built a partnership of 62 runs in 41 balls before Adair was dismissed after playing a good knock of 34 runs from 24 balls with the help of three fours and a six.
In the end, the Irish team fell short by 12 runs as they were able to score just 125 runs with the loss of seven wickets.
Docrell played an unbeaten innings of 30 runs in 23 balls with two fours and a six in his innings.
For Canada, two wickets each were taken by Jeremy Gordon and Dillon Heyliger in their spells of four overs where they conceded 16 and 18 runs respectively. One wicket each was taken by Junaid Siddiqui and Saad Bin Zafar in their respective spells.
Earlier, the Ireland skipper Paul Stirling won the toss and asked Canada to bat first at the New York stadium.
For Canada, batters Aaron Johnson and Navneet Dhaliwal opened the innings. Both batters were able to put just 12 runs together before Dhaliwal was dismissed by Mark Adair. He could score only six runs.
Right-hand batter Pargat Singh was next on the crease and he and Johnson could add just 16 more runs to the total before the Ireland bowlers struck again.
Johnson scored 4 runs with the help of three fours.
Following Johnson's dismissal, Dilpreet Bajwa came out to bat in the sixth over when the team score was 28/2.
At the score of 42, Pargat Singh was sent back to the dressing room after he had scored 18 runs. He was out of the bowling of Craig Young in the seventh over.
Nicolas Kiton came out to bat next. The Canadian side completed their fifty on the last ball of the eighth over as Kirton slammed a boundary of the bowling of Barry McCarthy.On the first ball of the ninth over, Canada lost their fourth wicket when the team score was 53. Bajwa was dismissed after he had scored seven runs.
Soon after Bajwa's departure, the side's wicketkeeper-batter Shreyas Movva came out to bat.
After 10 overs, Canada were 63/4 with Kirton and Movva unbeaten on the crease.
The Canadian side brought up their 100 in 15.2 overs as Kirton smashed a boundary of the bowling of Young. On the next ball, Kirton took a single to bring up a 50-run partnership with Movva.In the 19th over bowled by McCarthy, the batting side lost two wickets. On the fourth ball, the side lost the wicket of set batter Kirton who was dismissed after he had scored 49 runs off 35 balls which were laced with three boundaries and two maximums.
On the last ball of the same over, Dillon Heyliger was sent back without opening his account.
Movva played a knock of 37 runs from 36 balls which included three fours in his innings.
The pick of the bowlers for Ireland were Young and McCarthy as they bagged two wickets each in their spells of four overs in which they conceded 32 and 24 runs respectively. One wicket each was taken by Adair and Delany in their respective spells.
Brief Score: Ireland 125/7 in 20 overs (Mark Adair 34, George Docrell 30*, Jeremy Gordon 2/18) vs Canada 137/7 in 20 overs (Nicholas Kirtan 49, Shreyas Movva 37, Barry McCarthy 2/24) vs Ireland. (ANI)