Ireland beaten by Sri Lanka A
Thursday, 4 February 2010 14:44Ireland's bowling woes continued as they failed to defend 174 in the final game of the Quadrangular tournament, losing to a strong Sri Lanka A side by five wickets.
There was further bad news for Ireland with the confirmed news that Boyd Rankin will miss the World Cup Qualifying tournament in the UAE next week. A scan revealed no fracture but the doctors have advised a three week period of rest.
Cricket Ireland have yet to nominate a replacement, but Nigel Jones will have done his chances of inclusion no harm whatsoever, taking 1-22 in his four overs spell - one of the few to escape punishment against the free flowing Sri Lankans.
Alex Cusack took two wickets but at a cost of 43 runs, while Peter Connell also went at more than ten an over following his return to international duty following his paternity leave back in Ireland.
Chinthaka Jayasinghe (41) and Jeewan Mendis (29) took their side to the win and the tournament trophy with an unbroken sixth wicket stand of 68 in just 52 balls, getting over the finishing line with 10 balls to spare.
Sri Lanka had got off to a rapid start in their pursuit of the winning target, scoring 51 runs in the opening three overs of their reply.
Earlier Ireland had posted 174/6 with the highlight being an opening century stand between the new look partnership of Niall O'Brien and Paul Stirling - Ireland had rested skipper William Porterfield, along with Trent Johnston and Andre Botha.
O'Brien recorded his second successive international T20 half century, hitting six fours and two sixes in his 59 from 37 balls. Stirling scored 43 from 35 balls, as the pair put on 104 in 11.4 overs.
Gary Wilson impressed with a breezy unbeaten 25, but in the end they were probably 15 runs short of a winning total.
Ireland now move on to the UAE, where they have a further warm-up fixture with Canada on Sunday, before facing Afghanistan in their opening T20 WCQ game on Tuesday.
