Ireland beat UAE by 2 wickets

In the most intense match of the World Cup played as of yet, Ireland pulled a two-wicket win over a fighting UAE side in the 16th match of the World Cup 2015 at Brisbane today.

It was a near 100-over show of entertaining competitive cricket that reminded all how the balance of a cricket game can change at any moment.

Put to bat first, UAE who had a bleak chance of getting to 150 saw the heroism of Shaiman Anwar to reach 278 runs, overshadowing the Irish bowlers' dominance from the start.

Max Sorensen, Alex Cusack, Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien took three wickets each while George Dockrell took one.

In reply, tight spells from UAE bowlers saw Ireland tied down to a sloth run rate and lose wickets at regular intervals for most of the match before Gary Wilson and Kevin O'Brian showed up. 

With a certain win at hand, both the settled batsmen got out and two new batsmen were at crease with 12 runs required from 15 balls - raising renewed hopes for UAE.

The Irish tail-enders did not fumble and reached the target with four balls remaining in play.

UAE Team

Amjad Ali, Andri Berenger, Krishna Chandran, Khurram Khan, Swapnil Patil (wk), Shaiman Anwar, Rohan Mustafa, Mohammad Naveed, Amjad Javed, Mohammad Tauqir (C), Manjula Guruge

Ireland Team

William Porterfield (C), Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce, Niall O'Brien, Gary Wilson (wk), Andy Balbirnie, Kevin O'Brien, John Mooney, George Dockrell, Max Sorensen, Alex Cusack