Porterfield's bat gives Ireland a slight advantage

A SECOND half-century of the match from Ireland skipper William Porterfield gave his side a marginal advantage on the second day of their Intercontinental Cup clash against Scotland at Mannonfield in Aberdeen.

Ireland closed the day on 102 for three, a lead of 96 runs after Scotland earlier scraped past Ireland’s first-innings total to gain the six bonus points on offer.

Crucially, Porterfield remains unbeaten on 52 and will look to push the total well past 200 today and back his bowlers to do the rest.

Or back his spinners may be more appropriate, after Regan West and Kyle McCallan took eight wickets between them to curtail the home side to a lead of six runs after the first innings.

Left-armer West was the star, finishing with figures of seven for 88 in 29.4 overs, a record for Ireland in the competition and the best first-class return since Garfield Harrison took nine for 113 against the same opposition in Edinburgh 19 years ago.

Scotland were indebted to the batting of Qasim Sheikh, who survived some hearty appeals to push Scotland past Ireland’s total of 202. Next ball he raised his bat for his century before West took a return catch from Alasdair Evans to end the innings on 208.

Ireland even got a sniff of the bonus points after McCallan and West struck in consecutive overs to leave Scotland still four runs short, before Sheikh brought a loud cheer from the home crowd as the bonus points were secured.

With 14 points still on offer for the victory, Ireland’s openers put on a second half-century stand of the match before Jeremy Bray fell to spinner Majid Haq for 33.

Haq, who claimed five wickets in the first innings, then removed Paul Stirling for a duck three balls later as spin claimed its 16th victim of the game.

With Alex Cusack receiving treatment for a back injury, Andre Botha came to the wicket on a pair. He got past that unwanted landmark but was left kicking himself when he tried to pull Ryan Watson’s fifth delivery, only to hear the clatter of timber.

All the while Porterfield was playing a steady hand at the other end, moving to his half-century from 113 deliveries before the end of play, while Kevin O’Brien was unbeaten on five at the end of play.