Shillington leads from the front once more

Another great innings from opening bat Clare Shillington helped Ireland make it two from two in their ICC Women's World Twenty20 qualifier this morning as they beat Canada by 77 runs at Anglesea Road.

Shillington followed up her century in Tuesday's Group B victory over Japan with a knock of 81 off 61 balls, the only disappointment coming when she was run out in the 18th over with another ton within her sights as Ireland closed on 146 for seven from their 20 overs.

The Malahide opener played some glorious drives to set the momentum from the start of the innings after Ireland had won the toss and batted, dominating an opening stand of 71 with skipper Isobel Joyce, who went for 17 to a loose stroke.

Ireland’s middle order wobbled badly, but with Shillington remaining at the wicket the scoreboard was always ticking along nicely, her 50 coming up off 40 deliveries with nine fours.

Ireland’s bowlers found their lengths from the off and backed up with some quality ground fielding they were able to put pressure on Canada from the first ball.

Eimear Richardson struck in the second over, and although the next wicket didn't arrive until the 10th, when Laura Delany bowled Suthershini Sivanantham for 14, Canada had only managed to put 33 runs on the board, with just two fours.

And scoreboard pressure told in the end as Ireland's bowlers rattled through the Canadian batting line-up, with Durriya Shabbir's top score of 23 the only other score in double figures as Richardson, Isobel Joyce and Melissa Scott-Hayward took two wickets each.

Ireland’s final group game comes on Saturday at the same venue against second-ranked Sri Lanka.

There was an upset in this morning's Group A game at Milverton in Skerries as Thailand beat the Netherlands by six wickets, with Nattakan Chantam making an unbeaten 24 off 19 balls to lead her side's chase of the Dutch total of 84 for five.

ICC WOMEN’S WORLD TWENTY20 QUALIFIER

GROUP B

(at Anglesea Road): Ireland 146-7 (20 ovs) (C Shillington 81, I Joyce 17, K Garth 13; D Shabbir 2-18, M Patel 2-26), Canada 69 (19.2 ovs) (D Shabbir 23, S Sivanantham 14; I Joyce 2-10, E Richardson 2-10, M Scott-Hayward 2-15). Ireland (2pts) beat Canada (0pts) by 77 runs.

GROUP A

(at Milvereton): The Netherlands 84-5 (20 ovs) (D Hannema 25, D Braat 17no, M Veringmeier 15; R Sangsoma 2-11), Thailand 85-4 (17.5 ovs) (N Chantam 24no, P Prathanmitr 18, N Chaiwai 17). Thailand (2pts) bt The Netherlands (0ots) by 6 wkts.