Ireland make hard work of Italy

Cricket:Ireland were made to sweat a little too much for their liking in Abu Dhabi this morning before seeing off Italy by two wickets to make it back to back victories in Group B at the World Twenty20 qualifier.

With temperatures into the 30s at the Sheikh Zayed stadium, Ireland's batsman made a meal of chasing down a target of 101 against an Italian side that had won their opening two games in the competition.

Gary Wilson showed a cool head in the circumstances, hitting the winning boundary off the fourth ball of the final over after Ireland had lost eight wickets in a nervy chase.

The Surrey player finished unbeaten on 30 from 29 balls, the value of which was shown by the fact that five Irish batsman contributed 17 runs between them as the Italian bowlers kept their discipline.

Ireland's bowlers again put in a serious shift of work in the testing conditions, with man of the match Boyd Rankin proving a handful for an Italian line-up made up of Australian, South African and Sri Lankan born players; Italian-born skipper Alessandro Bonora being the odd one out.

Rankin took three wickets for 16 in his four overs, while off-spinner Paul Stirling opened the bowling and accounted for former Pembroke batsman Andy Northcote and his Middlesex team-mate Gareth Berg to finish with two for 13 as Italy made 100 for seven off their 20 overs.

Ireland head back to Dubai for their next game tomorrow, where they take on a United States side that lost to Namibia by 17 runs this morning as the African side kept up their unbeaten run at the top of Group B.

SCORES

Italy 100-7 (20 ovs)(M di Veneto 23, G Berg 21, A Bobora 20no; B Rankin 3-16, P Stirling 2-13).

Ireland 104-8 (19.4 ovs)(G Wilson 30no, W Porterfield 19, P Stirling 17; D Crowley 3-16, C Sandri 2-20).

Ireland won by 2 wickets.