Stirling, McCarthy help Ireland level series
sharjah — Ireland struck back in style against Afghanistan to win the second ODI and level the threematch series at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday night.
Opener Paul Stirling cracked a superb 82 and medium pacer Barry McCarthy claimed his maiden fivewicket haul to guide Irish to a 51run win, after they were humbled in the first ODI by 138 runs.
Stirling’s 96-ball 82 and 62 not out by George Dockrell helped Ireland put a fighting 271-9 in their 50 overs before they bowled out Afghanistan for 220 in 45.2 overs.
Medium pacer Barry McCarthy finished with 5-46 as only opener Javed Ahmadi could offer any resistance with a patient 67-ball 48.
The third and final match is also in Sharjah on Sunday.
The series serves as a preparation for both the teams for the Wold Cup 2019 qualifiers to be held in Zimbabwe in March next year.
Chasing a big total none of the Afghanistan batsmen capitalised on good starts with Rahmat Shah (32), Mohammad Nabi (29) and Nasir Jamal (25) also losing wickets after getting well set.
McCarthy, whose previous best of 4-59 also came against Afghanistan at Belfast last year, sparked a collapse which saw Afghanistan lose their last six wickets for a mere 38 runs.
Ireland were put on the track of a solid total by Stirling who put on 115 run for the opening stand with skipper William Porterfield (47) — Afghans crumble > Ireland W. Porterfield c Stanikzai b Naib 47 P. Stirling lbw b Khan 82 A. Balbirnie lbw b M. Zadran 4 N. O’Brien st Shafiq b M. Zadran 13 G. Wilson b Khan 0 K. O’Brien lbw b D. Zadran 11 S. Poynter c & b Nabi 18 G. Dockrell not out 62 B. McCarthy b D. Zadran 7 T. Murtagh b Nabi 3 P. Chase not out 0
> extras: (b-13 lb-6 w-5) 24 > Total: (for 9 wickets, 50 overs) 271 > Fall: 1-115, 2-120, 3-160, 4-160, 5-160, 6-188, 7-217, 8-244, 9-271. > Bowling: M. Zadran 10-0-50-2 (w-3), D. Zadran 10-0-65-2, G. Naib 10-0-36-1, M. Nabi 10-0-61-2, R. Khan 10-0-40-2. a new record against Afghanistan, beating the previous best of 113 > Afghanistan J. Ahmadi c Dockrell b McCarthy 48 I. Janat b McCarthy 20 R. Shah st N. O’Brien b Dockrell 32 A. Stanikzai c Wilson b Murtagh 12 N. Jamal c Porterfield b McCarthy 25 M. Nabi b Chase 29 G. Naib c S. Poynter b Chase 3 R. Khan not out 16 S. Shafiq b McCarthy 0 D. Zadran lbw b McCarthy 12 M. Zadran run out 0
> extras: (b-3 lb-5 nb-1 w-14) 23 > Total (all out, 45.2 overs) 220 > Fall: 1-46, 2-97, 3-114, 4-130, 5-182, 6-187, 7-201, 8-201, 9-215, 10-220. > Bowling: T. Murtagh 9-1-28-1, G. Dockrell 9-0-42-1 (w-4), P. Chase 8.2-0-45-2 (nb-1 w-2), B. McCarthy 9-1-46-5 (w-1), K. O’Brien 3-0-20-0 (w-1), P. Stirling 7-0-31-0 (w-1). > Result: Ireland won by 51 runs which Stirling and Ed Joyce put on in Noida (Delhi) earlier this year.