Porterfield inspires Ireland to victory over Scots as Afghanistan beats Denmark

Captain’s 87-ball century secures seven-wicket in over defending champion

Afghanistan takes one step further to ICC Cricket World Cup glory with win over Denmark as wicketkeeper turns strike bowler; UAE, Uganda, Netherlands and Canada also get qualifier off to winning start

Live ball-by-ball scoring, audio clip and action photographs are available for free use throughout the 19-day tournament from event website

A superb century from captain William Porterfield ensured Ireland laid down a marker on the first day of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier as his team easily overcame the challenge of its traditional rival Scotland at Benoni.

This coupled with some thrilling matches elsewhere, including a stunning victory for Afghanistan over Denmark made it a great start to the 19-day tournament.

Porterfield’s hundred came off just 87 balls and included 12 fours and three sixes as Ireland chased down Scotland’s under-par score of 232 with seven wickets and 12.2 overs to spare.

Opening the batting, the 24-year-old smashed the ball to all parts almost from the off. In the first over of the innings he hit Dewald Nel for a four through the covers and then a six over midwicket – the first six of his ODI career – letting the Scots know his intentions straight away.

“This is a good start for us,” said Porterfield afterwards.

“When we saw the fixture list we knew this first one would be a huge game for us because we realise how good Scotland are so to get the win is a big boost for us.

“I have been working on a few things in the nets and have been feeling really good but that is probably as well as I have batted. Everything seemed to click today and the main thing was to get the win for the team so I’m delighted.

“But now we have to focus on tomorrow’s game (against Oman). We will prepare the same way and hopefully we’ll put in another performance like that,” he said.

Porterfield was ably assisted, first by Gary Wilson and then by Eoin Morgan, whose contribution of 61 (off 56 balls) from a partnership of 131 helped to flatten any lingering hope that the defending champion Scotland had of taking the points.

Earlier, having lost the toss, Scotland got off to a pretty dismal start losing four wickets with just 24 runs on the board with Ireland’s openers Peter Connell (2-51) and Boyd Rankin (2-27) making their presence felt. Only Neil McCallum stood firm against the Irish onslaught.

Just as he did in Nairobi at the ICC World Cricket League Division 1 in 2007, McCallum scored a magnificent century, ending on 121 not out as his team-mates seemed unable to stay with him long enough to bring Scotland to a truly competitive total on what was a good batting track at Willowmoore Park.

Unlike that day in Kenya, however, McCallum’s hundred did not win the game for his side as this time Ireland’s batsmen were ready to meet the challenge. Scotland must now brace itself for a vital match against Namibia at LC de Villiers Oval, Pretoria tomorrow.

Elsewhere on day one in Group A of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, Canada beat Oman by 103 runs and Uganda pulled off a thrilling six-run victory over Namibia.

In Group B, Afghanistan kept its World Cup dream alive with a five-wicket victory over Denmark at Vaal University, the Netherlands – inspired by a rapid-fire hundred by Ryan ten Doeschate – overcame Kenya by seven wickets at Potchefstroom Cricket Ground, and the United Arab Emirates got the better of Bermuda at Potchefstroom University.

Man of the match for Afghanistan was wicketkeeper-batsman Karim Sadiq, who opted to take off the gloves and have a bowl. Showing his true all-round abilities he proceeded to take four wickets.

Afterwards he said: “It was bad luck for Denmark that I injured my finger, which meant I stopped keeping wicket. My captain trusted me with the ball and I bowled wicket to wicket and ended up with four wickets and a run out.

“I have done this before, but our new coach wants me to focus on my wicketkeeping, while Taj (the former coach) always used to trust me with my bowling.

“My coach is very happy with my bowling today and I am hoping he will let me bowl in the other games.

“Bermuda is a big game for us, as they have played ODI cricket but if we win we will be close to qualification for the Super Eight.”

Brief scores:

At Benoni: Scotland 232-7, 50 overs (Neil McCullum 121 not out, Ryan Coetzer 29; Boyd Rankin 2-27, Peter Connell 2-51)

Ireland 233-3, 37.4 overs (William Porterfield 101, Eoin Morgan 61)

Ireland won by seven wickets

Man of the match: William Porterfield

At LC de Villiers Oval: Canada 247 all out, 49.3 overs (Sunil Dhaniram 100 not out, Rizwan Cheema 64; Syed Tariq Hussain 5-39, Awal Khan 3-19)

Oman 144 all out, 40 overs (Farhan Khan 43, Nileshkumar Parmar 38 not out; Khurram Chohan 4-27, Havir Baidwan 2-39, Sunil Dhaniram 2-1)

Man of the match: Sunil Dhaniram

At Stan Friedman Oval: Uganda 234-7, 50 overs (Roger Mukasa 51, Frank Nsubuga 45 not out, Joel Olweny 42; Deon Kotze 2-22)

Namibia 228-9, 50 overs (Raymond van Schoor 59, Sarel Burger 50, Louis Burger 27; Davis Arinaitwe 4-53, Akbar Baig 2-52)

Uganda won by six runs

Man of the match: Frank Nsubuga

At Potchefstroom: Kenya 247-8, 50 overs (Jimmy Kamande 58, Thomas Odoyo 36; 4-49 Edgar Schiferli 4-49, Peter Borren 2-38, Ryan ten Doeschate 2-48)

Netherlands 248-3, 46.2 overs (Ryan ten Doeschate 106 not out, Bas Zuiderent 64 not out)

Netherlands won by seven wickets

Man of the match: Ryan ten Doeschate

At Potchefstroom University: Bermuda 187 all out, 46.3 overs (Janeiro Tucker 66; Khuram Khan 3-40, Zahid Shah 2-22, Arshad Ali 2-25, Amjad Javed 2-29)

UAE 190-6, 47.1 (Arshad Ali 41, Khuram Khan 40 not out, Saqib Ali 31; George O’Brien 2-47)

UAE won by four wickets

Man of the match: Khuram Khan

At Vaal University: Denmark 204-9, 50 overs (Carsten Pedersen 46, Soren Vestergaard 39; Karim Sadiq 4-27, Mohammed Nabi 2-34)

Afghanistan 205-5, 46.2 overs (Mohammed Shehzad 55 not out, Mohammad Nabi 47, Karim Sadiq 39; Henrik Hansen 2-43)

Afghanistan won by five wickets

Man of the match: Karim Sadiq

Tomorrow’s fixtures:

Group A: Scotland v Namibia, LC de Villiers Oval; Ireland v Oman, Stan Friedman; Canada v Uganda, WITS.

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

Play starts at 0930 (local time, 0730 GMT)

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