BRISBANE: Ireland captain William Porterfield hailed big-hitting Kevin O’Brien and rock-steady Gary Wilson for carving out a nervy two-wicket World Cup win over the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday.

Ireland now have two wins in two while the UAE have lost both their opening pool matches.

“Wickets in hand are always a big thing, especially when you’ve got lads like Kev and Wilson coming in,” said Porterfield, whose team had started their campaign with a win over the West Indies.

“One key factor was the way we played in the last 20 overs of our innings.”

He added: “It was a bit closer than we would have wanted but we’d take that any day of the week. Confidence is high in the squad, and the fixtures start coming thicker and faster now.”

Ireland are third in Pool ‘B’ and well-placed for a quarter-final spot, although they still have to face South Africa, Zimbabwe, defending champions India and Pakistan.

The UAE have now lost both their opening games, having previously gone down to Zimbabwe by four wickets.

Skipper Mohammad Tauqir admitted the game got away from his side in the last 15 overs especially when Kevin O’Brien, who hit the fastest World Cup century at the 2011 event, came to the crease.

“That’s cricket. The spinners were playing well, but Kevin O’Brien took the game from us,” said Tauqir.

“It was difficult because there was a lot of dew as the game went on and the ball was slippery.”

Tauqir praised the innings of century-maker Shaiman Anwar.

“In the dressing room, his nickname is Sir Viv Richards. We knew he could do it.”—AFP

O’Brien fined for dissent

BRISBANE: Ireland all-rounder Kevin O’Brien has been fined 30 percent of his match fee for showing dissent at an umpire’s decision during Wednesday’s win against the United Arab Emirates in Brisbane, the Intern­a­tional Cricket Council said.

“The incident happened on the first ball of the 48th over when O’Brien bowled a wide delivery and continued to question the umpire’s decision until bowling the next delivery,” the ICC said in a statement.

Published in Dawn February 26th , 2015

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