Irish just fall short in Colombo
Wednesday, 3 February 2010A half-century from Niall O'Brien was not enough for Ireland as they lost by four runs to Canada in the Twenty20 Series in Colombo.
Chasing a victory target of 177, the Irish looked to be on course as opener O'Brien helped steer them to a promising 90 for two inside 10 overs, with William Porterfield (19) and Paul Stirling (22) the men to walk.
But wickets fell at regular intervals following Stirling's removal, with Canada paceman Umar Bhatti claiming three for 26 to restrict the Irish to 172 for eight. O'Brien was dismissed for 50.
Gary Wilson was the only Irish player to offer any middle-order resistance with 26 off 22 balls.
Earlier, Hiral Patel did the damage with the bat for Canada, hitting an unbeaten 88 - including nine fours and two sixes - as his team posted a score of 176 for three.
Medium pace bowler Andre Botha took all three wickets for 35 during his four-over spell.
