A disciplined bowling performance followed by a 90-run opening stand between Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien helped Ireland to a seven-wicket win in the first of three T20Is against the UAE.
Having succumbed to defeat against Scotland in a warm-up fixture on Tuesday, Ireland bounced back with a strong all-round performance on Thursday after they were asked to field first.
Opening up with the new ball, Mark Adair and Josh Little gave little away, but the star man in the powerplay proved to be Curtis Campher.
Granted the sixth over of the innings, the all-rounder claimed his maiden T20I wicket with the dismissal of Chirag Suri off his second ball of the day.
Just three deliveries later he reacted quickly to move to his left and hold on to a return catch from CP Rizwan – a double-wicket maiden saw UAE to 26-3 after six overs, with Adair having taken the first wicket of the day.
Campher remained economical in the middle overs and a top-edged pull from Basil Hameed, with the ball landing in the safe hands of Little at short fine leg, gave the 22-year-old his third wicket of the innings.
For the UAE, Muhammad Usman offered some resistance with a 32-ball 35, but he was stumped after dancing down the track and failing to connect off a Ben White delivery.
The leg-spinner was celebrating once more from the very next delivery after he bowled Rohan Mustafa for a first-ball duck, and while he wasn’t to enjoy a hat-trick, he finished with tidy figures of 2-24.
The hosts did end strongly with the bat as Kashif Daud and Ahmed Raza struck some hefty blows to claim 26 runs from the final two overs, but UAE’s total of 123-7 appeared below par and meant Ireland remained in the driving seat at the mid-innings break.
In response, Paul Stirling and Kevin O’Brien didn’t race out of the blocks, but neither did they falter, 50 was reached in the eighth over, with Stirling taking much of the strike in the opening exchanges.
While it took him 40 deliveries to reach 38, the power game he is renowned for was on show when he moved to a half-century in spectacular style – the off-spin of Mustafa was deposited for back-to-back sixes, with deep midwicket the target zone of the freewheeling right-hander.
The partnership advanced to 90 before off-spinner Hameed accounted for Stirling, and there were a few minor bumps in Ireland's path to victory as Andrew Balbirnie was bowled for 3, and O’Brien holed out to long-on for 46 as Hameed’s regular interventions left nine required from 10 deliveries.
But Campher showed his all-round value, entering the fray and immediately settling any nerves with back-to-back boundaries and a single to secure a series-opening win.
The two sides return to the same venue on Friday for the second match of the series.
