BRISBANE: Gary Wilson struck 80 runs from 69 balls in a defiant late innings to help Ireland edge the United Arab Emirates by two wickets Wednesday in a World Cup match that was finely balanced until the last over.

In the unfamiliar position of being the favoruite in a World Cup match following its opening upset win over the West Indies, Ireland won the toss, sent the UAE in to bat and had them in trouble at 78-4 before Shaiman Anwar came to the rescue with his maiden ODI century to lift the total to 278-9.

The Irish never appeared completely comfortable in reply after losing Paul Stirling (3) in the second over, but remained cool enough to eventually reach 279-8 with four balls to spare.

“I was confident going out there,” Wilson said. “It was obviously closer than we wanted it to be, definitely ... (but) we’re two from two, that’s all we could ask.”

In the time since its opening four-wicket win on Feb 16 at Nelson in New Zealand, Ireland was idle while the two-time champion West Indies rebounded with wins over Pakistan and Zimbabwe. The UAE was the last of the 14 teams to get its Cup campaign under way, losing by four wickets to Zimbabwe last week after getting themselves into a strong position to win.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2015

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