Stirling crushes Scotland chances

Scotland's hopes of Desert Twenty20 success were dashed in Dubai yesterday as they slumped to a crushing 98-run defeat at the hands of Ireland.

The Scots went into the semi-final having won all three of their group matches convincingly and eyeing a final against tournament favourites Afghanistan.

But their bowlers never recovered from an early mauling at the hands of Paul Stirling as the Irish went on to post 211 for six.

And, while Scotland's batsmen stayed in touch with the daunting run-rate during the opening powerplay overs, the task proved just too great.

In the end they lost their last nine wickets – four of them to leg-spinner Jacob Molder – for just 41 runs.

Captain Kyle Coetzer said: “We were outplayed and fair play to Ireland. They played a strong game and proved what a dangerous side they are.

“If we'd been able to take a couple of early wickets we could have slowed the run rate, but Paul Stirling is a fine player and took it away from us.”

Middlesex’s Stirling set the tone by bludgeoning 17 runs from Aberdeen-born Josh Davey's first over.

He went on to score three 6s and five 4s in racing to 60 from just 36 balls.

But he was upstaged by Gary Wilson as the Scottish bowlers continued to toil.

Surrey player Wilson continued the assault with a series of savage blows as Ireland maintained a rate of 10 runs an over.

Wilson finished unbeaten on 65 from only 29 deliveries.

Scotland came out hard with Matthew Cross racing to 35 from only 16 deliveries but Ireland were able to apply the pressure and claim wickets at regular intervals.

Coetzer also had a go at Ireland's bowlers, top-scoring with 40, but the Scots collapsed dramatically as the title bid ended in failure. He added: “We've done enough to show we should have the chance to play more cricket at a high level.”