Ireland fall short as ‘best ever batsman’ Stirling hits 10th ODI ton
ANDY BALBIRNIE made a huge personal call in Abu Dhabi last night by saying Paul Stirling is the best batsman Ireland have ever had after the opener scored his 10th one-day international century against the United Arab Emirates.
Stirling picked up where he left off against England in August, striking 131 not out from 148 balls, although it wasn’t enough to prevent a rusty-looking Ireland from slipping to a six-wicket defeat by the hosts in the first of a four-match series.
“Paul is world-class – the best batsman we’ve ever had,” Ireland skipper Balbirnie said.
“He’s still got a lot more runs left in the tank and he drives this batting group forward, including myself.”
Balbirnie clearly enjoys batting with Stirling. The pair both made centuries in the victory over England last year and yesterday they built the platform for a winning score with a second-wicket partnership of 102.
But when Balbirnie was caught sweeping for 53 the Ireland innings stalled, and despite a breezy 24 from Curtis Campher, who was also Ireland’s best bowler, a total of 269-5 was overhauled by the home side with an over to spare.
As good as Stirling is – an innings that contained four sixes and nine fours again showed patience and his growing maturity – few would yet claim he is a better batsman than Eoin Morgan, never mind Ed Joyce, who Balbirnie played with.
Recover
Wherever he lies in the pantheon, Ireland will need Stirling to be at the peak of his powers as they look to recover against a side they had not lost to in a 50-overs match since 2001, before taking on Afghanistan in three World Cup qualifying games.
Balbirnie claimed that centuries by UAE pair CP Rizwan and Muhammad Usman were two of the better ones made against Ireland but, with the exception of Campher, his attack failed to consistently hit their lengths and lines, while a couple of half-chances were shelled in the field.
“We’re hugely disappointed and there’s stuff we have to work on,” the skipper said.
“We hit a bit of a rut in the middle of our innings and although we built pressure with the ball we just couldn’t break that partnership.
“Without playing any cricket since August we were maybe a bit rusty, but we’ve got to be more pro-active than that with these games coming thick and fast this month. It’s a big challenge to turn this around now – 1-0 down with three to play.”