World Cup Match 42 Pakistan vs Ireland; Pakistan qualify,will face Australia in QFs

World Cup Match 42 Pakistan vs Ireland; Pakistan qualify,will face Australia in QFs: Pakistan faced Ireland in a QF place deciding match for 3 countries. If Ireland had won, they would have gone through, if a tie had happened then, both Pakistan and Ireland would have qualified. But as it unfolded, Pakistan beat odds to qualify into QFs and take West Indies with them.

Ireland won the toss and batted first on the slowish Adelaide oval pitch. Ireland lost Paul Stirling to Ehsan Adil for 3. Pakistan removed Irish batsmen at regular intervals giving no support to Porterfield who was waging a lone battle at the other end. Ed Joyce (11), Niall O’Brien (12), Andy Balbirnie (18) all fell to Pakistani bowlers regularly. Porterfield got some support from Gary Wilson who scored 29 off 38 balls. Seeing wickets falling at the other end, Porterfield upped the tempo of his scoring and got to his hundred in 124 balls with 10 fours and 1 six. After he was dismissed for 107 with score on 182, Ireland barely managed to reach their final score of 237, due to some lusty blows by the tail enders. Porterfield’s century was the first by any associate captain in World Cups.

Pakistani bowling kept the pressure on the Irish batsmen like a hanging noose.WahabRiza was as efficient as ever picking 3/54.Sohail Khan took 2/44 andRahat Ali took 2/48. Pakistan needed to score 238 to win the match and qualify for theQFs.

Pakistan came out all the guns firing with Ahmed Shehzad going after the bowling and Sarfraz looking to hold up the other end. Both of them looked determined to win the match for Pakistan themselves. Shehzad got the confidence form seeing Sarfraz holding up the other end and attacked the Irish bowlers with caution. Pakistan were 120 in 22nd overs when Shehzad was dismissed for 63 by Thompson. Haris Sohail followed Shehzad soon after a misunderstanding between him and Sarfraz saw him standing in middle of the pitch and nowhere to go. He was run out for 3 and it seemed that Ireland were clawing their way back into the game. But Sarfraz was standing there like a thorn in their way to QFs. Misbah and Sarfraz slowly but surely got Pakistan closer to the target. Misbah looked in aggressive touch hitting 2 sixes and 3 fours in his 39 runs, before he knocked his own stumps down trying to hit Cusack on the back foot. Umar Akmal came out to join Sarfraz who was nearing his hundred. Akmal hit 20 runs on his way to hitting the winning runs. Before that Sarfraz bought up his century with a four over midwicket off 124 balls. This ended Pakistan’s World Cup century drought after Imran Nazir’s  160 in 2007 World Cup.

Pakistan won the match after Umar Akmal hit a four to Paul Stirling and the players rushed onto the field to celebrate and say thanks to the fans. Irish looked dejected since it was a perfect chance for them to qualify for the QFs. But their batting deserted them at the worst possible moment. Their bowling couldn’t do much but Cusack took 1/43 and Thompson 1/59.

Pakistan will now go on to face Australia in QFs at Adelaide on March 20. This will be a true test of the Pakistani side, which has shown remarkable improve from their earlier performance in the tournament.

Sarfraz Ahmed got the Man of the match for his 101*, his second of the World Cup 2015.

Brief Scores:
Ireland 237 (W Porterfield 107, G Wilson 29; W Riaz 3/54) lost to Pakistan 241/3 (S Ahmed 101*, A Shehzad 63; A Cusack 1/43) by 7 wickets.

Trivia and Records:
# Last Pakistani to score a century in World Cup was Imran Nazir (160 v Zim in 2007). Sarfraz Ahmed may hit today.

# Captains to be out ‘hit wicket’ in WC: Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak) today, J Harris (Canada) in 2003, M Odumbe (Kenya) in 1996.

# Sarfraz Ahmed 101*, the highest individual score by a Pakistani WKeeper in World Cup matches, beating Moin Khan 63 v SA 1999.

# 297* runs for Misbah-ul-Haq in this World Cup, most by a Pakistani Captain in a single WC, beating Imran Khan 283 in 1983 WC.

# William Porterfield become the first captain of Associate team to score a century in World Cup history.