O'Brien and Morgan rescue Ireland to win top-of-the-table battle

Impressive Irish batting under pressure brings about Canada’s first defeat in Group A Neil McCullum scores third century as Scotland wins; there also victories for Netherlands, UAE, Kenya and Namibia Live ball-by-ball scoring from all matches throughout the 19-day tournament is offered on the event website; free-to-use photos available from Ireland v Canada while Getty Images attended the Kenya v Bermuda game; video clips available on event website
Kevin O’Brien and Eoin Morgan rescued Ireland from a precarious position to maintain their team’s 100 per cent record in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier with victory over Canada at Benoni today.

Coming together with the score on 40-4 chasing 221 for victory, O’Brien and Morgan batted cautiously in the early stages as Henry Osinde and Umar Bhatti made them work for every run with some tight and, at times, intimidating quick bowling.

But the pair gradually grew in confidence, a process that turned out to be inversely proportional to Canada’s morale and by the time O’Brien smashed the winning boundary straight down the ground with six wickets and nine overs to spare, the body language of Ashish Bagai’s men was that of a comprehensively defeated team.

O’Brien finished unbeaten on 89 (off 104 balls) and Morgan was 84 (off 100) as the Irish collected another two points to finish the day as they started it – on top of Group A.

Afterwards, Morgan said he was not worried when the score was 40-4. “To be honest I was pretty calm about it. I knew it was a good wicket – that was quite evident from the first innings – so I knew if I built a solid base, I could be there at the end.

“Kevin and I compliment each other quite well at the crease. He is an aggressive player who hits boundaries pretty much anywhere he wants to while I like to accumulate my runs so it was a good partnership. The right-left combination worked well, especially as the wicket wasn’t turning. The spinners found it very difficult to settle and then we made it difficult for them at the end.

“We will take each game as it comes. We are delighted to be in the Super Eight stage. That is off our minds at this stage so we can go out in our last group match (against Namibia) and just play positive cricket.”

Previously unbeaten in the tournament the Canadians knew they did not have enough runs on what was a good batting surface. Geoff Barnett (49), John Davison (41) and Ian Billcliff (38) all got good starts without being able to capitalise, especially considering the Irish fielding early on was uncharacteristically loose as they dropped four catches and missed a stumping.

But Canada coach Pubudu Dassanayake remained upbeat afterwards, comfortable in the knowledge that his side was already through to the Super Eight stage.

“In the morning when we were batting we got a good start despite a bit of juice on the wicket early on but then we didn’t go through well. We lost a bit of momentum and then Ireland put pressure on us to restrict our scoring.

“But we will regroup after this and come back well in our next game against Scotland. We are capable of beating them. We are still very confident we come back hard and collect those two points to bring through into the next round,” he said.

Elsewhere, a remarkable innings of 164 from Amjad Javed (off just 117 balls, 17 fours and eight sixes) made sure the UAE beat Denmark by 119 despite a brave run chase from Frederik Klokker (77), Michael Pedersen (60) and Carsten Pedersen (58) before the Danish tail succumbed.

Namibia kept its hopes of getting through to the Super Eight alive with a solid win over Oman at Stan Friedman Oval. All-rounder Gerrie Snyman (76 and 2-19) was the man of the match as the south-west Africans ran out comfortable winners by 119 runs. However, a difficult game against Ireland in the final round of group matches awaits Snyman and friends.

Neil McCullum scored his third century in four games as Scotland proved too strong for Uganda at WITS University ground in Johannesburg. It wasn’t all plain sailing, however, as McCullum and Gavin Hamilton (56) were the only ones to get past 20 for the Scots as they posted a meagre total of 209.

But Scotland’s bowlers worked well as a unit with five of them taking two wickets each to strangle the Uganda reply despite some good work from skipper Junior Kwebiha (69).

Kenya put up a fine run chase after Bermuda had posted a competitive total of 259-5 with David Hemp passing 100 for the first time in the tournament. The east Africans did not panic, though, and through Kennedy Obuya (63), Steve Tikolo (60 not out), Morris Ouma (57), Collins Obuya (43 not out) Kenya got home safely with seven wickets and five overs to spare.

In the other game of the day, the Netherlands overcame Afghanistan by five wickets at Vaal University with Daan van Bunge picking up the man-of-the-match award for his unbeaten half-century.

Brief scores:

Group A

At Benoni: Canada 220 all out, 48 overs (Geoff Barnett 49, John Davison 41, Ian Billcliff 38; Boyd Rankin 2-36, Trent Johnston 2-37)
Ireland 223-4, 41 overs (Kevin O’Brien 89 not out, Eoin Morgan 84, Niall O’Brien 32; Umar Bhatti 3-28)
Ireland won by six wickets
Man of the match: Eoin Morgan

Stan Friedman Oval: Namibia 291-9, 50 overs (Gerrie Snyman 76, Craig Williams 64, Nicholaas Scholtz 64; Tariq Hussain 3-54, Zeeshan Siddiqui 2-38, Farhan Khan 2-71)
Oman 172 all out, 43.2 overs (Sarel Burger 5-44, Gerrie Snyman 2-19, Deon Kotze 2-22)
Namibia won by 119 runs
Man of the match: Gerrie Snyman

At WITS: Scotland 209-8, 50 overs (Neil McCullum 101 not out, Gavin Hamilton 56; Ronald Ssemanda 2-28, Kenneth Kamyuka 2-35)
Uganda 164 all out, 43.1 overs (Junior Kwebiha 69, Roger Mukasa 37; Jan Stander 2-14, Craig Wright 2-27, Majid Haq 2-30, Dewald Nel 2-34)
Scotland won by 45 runs
Man of the match: Neil McCallum

Group B
At Potchefstroom Cricket Ground: Bermuda 259-5, 50 overs (David Hemp 102 not out, Fiqre Crockwell 45, Stephen Outerbridge 31, Glenn Smith-Blakeney 30)
Kenya 260-3, 45 overs (Kennedy Obuya 63, Steve Tikolo 60 not out, Morris Ouma 57, Collins Obuya 43 not out)
Kenya won by seven wickets
Man of the match: David Hemp

At Vaal University: Afghanistan 204-9, 50 overs (Karim Khan 72, Mohammad Nabi 36; Mudassar Bukhari 3-41, Ryan ten Doeschate 3-50, Peter Seelaar 2-39)
Netherlands 208-5, 46.2 overs (Daan van Bunge 65 not out, Bas Zuiderent 30; Mohammad Nabi 2-31)
Netherlands won by five wickets
Man of the match: Daan van Bunge

At Potchefstroom University: UAE 379-6, 50 overs (Amjad Javed 164, Khurram Khan 56, Arshad Ali 35, Nithin Gopal 35; David Borchersen 2-60)
Denmark 267 all out, 44.4 overs (Frederik Klokker 77, Michael Pedersen 60, Carsten Pedersen 58; Sameer Nayak 2-50)
UAE won by 119 runs
Man of the match: Amjad Javed Find the latest standings at http://iccworldcupqualifier.yahoo.net/. Tomorrow is a rest day.

Wednesday’s fixtures (the final round of group games):

Group A: Scotland v Canada (ODI, Willowmoore Park, Benoni); Oman v Uganda (LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria); Ireland v Namibia (WITS University)

Group B: Netherlands v Bermuda (ODI, Potchefstroom Cricket Ground); UAE v Afghanistan (Vaal University); Kenya v Denmark (Potchefstroom University)

Play starts at 0930 (local time, 0730 GMT)

For full scorecards and more details go to http://iccworldcupqualifier.yahoo.net/.