World T20 Group Stage
Ireland’s last-ball win over Zimbabwe
Opener Paul Stirling’s fifth Twenty20 half-century – 60 off 34 balls – set Ireland up for a last-ball victory over Zimbabwe in their first-round match in the World Twenty20 championship on Monday. Earlier, the Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor hit six boundaries and two towering sixes in his 46-ball 59, while Elton Chigumbura made 22 and Hamilton Masakadza scored 21 to take them to 164/7.
UAE beaten by Netherlands
UAE faces an uphill task if they are to advance to the Super 10 at the World Twenty20 after suffering an opening-night defeat against the Netherlands in the second match of the day. Stephan Myburg blazed a rapid 55 as the Dutch team hauled in the UAE’s target of 152 with six wickets and eight deliveries to spare. The Netherlands’ selection of the Australian all-rounder Tom Cooper has been controversial, after he was rushed into the squad as an injury replacement for Tim Gruijters at late notice. Gruijters released a statement via Youtube on the morning of the game saying he had been forced to undergo a scan on an existing back injury, which would not have hindered his performance.
Ireland XI: WTS Porterfield (Captain), KJ O’Brien, MC Sorensen, AR Cusack, PR Stirling, EC Joyce, GC Wilson (Wicket Keeper), GH Dockrell, SR Thompson, AR McBrine, AD Poynter
Zimbabwe XI: BRM Taylor (Captain & Wicket Keeper), H Masakadza, V Sibanda, E Chigumbura, T Maruma, Sikandar Raza, P Utseya, T Panyangara, SC Williams, TL Chatara, T Kamungozi
Netherlands XI: Stephan Myburgh, Michael Swart, Wesley Barresi (Wicket Keeper), Tom Cooper, Ben Cooper, Peter Borren (Captain), Logan van Beek, Mudassar Bukhari, Timm van der Gugten, Pieter Seelaar, Ahsan Malik
United Arab Emirates XI: Amjad Ali (Wicket Keeper), Faizan Asif, Khurram Khan (Captain), Swapnil Patil, Shaiman Anwar, Rohan Mustafa, Vikrant Shetty, Amjad Javed, Kamran Shahzad, Shadeep Silva, Manjula Guruge
