Pakistan end Ireland's T20 adventure

Pakistan ended Ireland's slim hopes of qualifying for the World Twenty20 semi-finals with a 39-run victory at the Oval here on Monday.
Pakistan made 159 for five and then held Ireland - the only non-Test side to have qualified for the second round Super Eights - to 120 for nine, with off-spinner Saeed Ajmal taking four wickets for 19 runs.
Victory all but assured Pakistan of a place in the last four with Tuesday's match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka set to decide which two teams qualify out of Group F.
Opener Kamran Akmal's 57 was the cornerstone of Pakistan's total in an innings where Ireland off-spinner Kyle McCallan again proved his worth with two wickets for 26 runs.
Meanwhile, pace bowler Boyd Rankin's four overs cost just 11 runs.
Akmal faced 51 balls with a six and five fours.
Ireland lost opener Niall O'Brien early in their chase when the wicket-keeper was caught and bowled off a miscued hook by 17-year-old paceman Mohammad Amir.
Paul Stirling, himself only 18, came in for his first match of the tournament with Ireland 13 for one but got off the mark first ball with a superb cover-driven four off left-armer Aamir.
But the teenager, on 16, became the latest batsman to be bowled playing across the line against leg-spinner Shahid Afridi, who struck with his sixth ball and Ireland were 42 for two off seven overs.
Ireland captain William Porterfield batted steadily for 40 off 36 balls but when he was caught by opposing skipper Younus Khan off the bowling of Ajmal, Ireland were 87 for three in the 14th over.
With six overs left Ireland needed 72 more runs to win.
John Mooney, trying to keep Ireland up with the rate, also fell to Ajmal after he was caught in the deep by Abdul Razzaq.
Then Umar Gul, who took a Twenty20 international record five wickets against New Zealand, got in on the act by bowling Trent Johnston for a duck.
At 99 for five in the 17th over the game was up for Ireland, who later saw four tailend wickets tumble for three runs in six balls.
Both Akmal and fellow opener Shahzaib Hasan struck a six off Johnston, whose four overs went for an expensive 45.
The 19-year-old Shahzaib holed out off seamer Alex Cusack, who took four wickets in Ireland's narrow nine-run loss to Sri Lanka at Lord's on Sunday.
The hard-hitting Afridi showed glimpses of his talent while making 24 before striking McCallan's third ball straight to Mooney at long-on.
And 78 for two became 102 for three in the 13th over when Younus was bowled after an ugly slog sweep against New Zealand born left-arm spinner Regan West.
Akmal, looking to press on, was dismissed by a Johnston yorker as he went down the pitch.

New boy Redmond boosts Kiwis

Late entrant Aaron Redmond smashed 63 off 30 balls as New Zealand hammered hapless Ireland for 198-5 in the World Twenty20 Super Eights game at Trent Bridge on Thursday.
Redmond, drafted into the injury-hit Black Caps squad on Wednesday night to replace the sick Jesse Ryder, made an immediate impact with a hurricane knock that contained 10 boundaries.
The 29-year-old contributed 40 in a first-wicket stand of 51 with stand-in captain Brendon McCullum after scoring 30 runs in the first two overs of the innings.
Scott Styris continued Ireland's leather hunt with 42 off 23 balls, adding 61 for the third wicket with Martin Guptill, who remained unbeaten on 45 with four sixes.
"I had been playing in the Bolton League. There were a lot of 50-over matches which were rain-affected, so it was good practice for this shortened version of the game," said Redmond.
"We have plenty of good players. I just go out there and bat. It was important to get a good start and put runs on the board. But we all miss Jesse. He's a good man."
Ireland spinner Kyle McCallan admitted that the minnows suffered a sluggish start.
"It was disappointing for us. We got off to a bad start from the very first ball," he said.
"It's not often we come up against batsmen of the calibre we have been facing here, but we didn't adapt as well as we could."
McCallan, who took 2-33 in his four overs, said he was enjoying the impact slow bowlers were having in the tournament.
"We make the batsmen put the pace on the ball, we can change it up and keep them guessing," he said.
"You have to accept that you are going to go across the ropes but it's how you deal with it that's important."
The Black Caps were once again without captain Daniel Vettori, who has yet to play in the tournament due to a shoulder injury, while frontline batsman Ross Taylor missed out due to a hamstring strain.
Ireland, a non-Test playing nation coached by former West Indian opener Phil Simmons, quaified for the Super Eights after a shock win over Bangladesh in the first round.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan are the other two teams in the group from which two will advance to the semi-finals.

Scoreboard
New Zealand
B. McCullum c West b McCallan 10
A. Redmond lbw b Cusack 63
M. Guptill not out 45
S. Styris c K. O'Brien b McCallan 42
J. Oram c Botha b Cusack 15
P. McGlashan b Johnson 5
J. Franklin not out 7

Extras b3, lb4, w4 11
Total for 5 wkts, 20 overs 198

Fall of wkts 1-51, 2-91, 3-152, 4-168, 5-176
Bowling
Connell 1-0-14-0,
Johnson 4-0-43-1,
K. O'Brien 4-0-31-0,
McCallan 4-0-33-2,
Cusack 4-0-43-2 (w3),
West 3-0-27-0 (w1)

Ireland set for tough Twenty20

Ireland will be looking to build on their reputation for causing cricket shocks in the World Twenty20 but they face some potentially gruelling encounters against the 'big boys'.
During the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, they famously beat Pakistan but the scale of the task facing them in this tournament was demonstrated when, during a warm-up match against New Zealand in Derby this week, they lost by seven wickets with three overs to spare.
Given that Bangladesh, one of Ireland's group opponents (the others are India), took New Zealand to the last ball before losing in a warm-up match, the prospects do not look good for the Irish.
However, Bangladesh are an unpredictable side when it comes to the big occasion. At the same, albeit 50 overs per side, World Cup where Ireland beat Pakistan, Bangladesh also famously defeated India.
Ireland coach Phil Simmons, the former West Indies batsman, has retained the bulk of the squad that won the recent World Cup qualifiers tournament in South Africa, with Jeremy Bray coming in for Andrew Poynter and Paul Strling taking over from Eoin Morgan.
Middlesex batsman Morgan has 'defected' to England, highlighting a perennial problem for Irish cricket in that their very best players, as was the case before Morgan with fellow batsman Ed Joyce, are always likely to 'cross the water' in search of greater professional opportunities and the chance to play five-day Test cricket.
Ireland though will be bolstered by the return of experienced bowlers Trent Johnston, Alex Cusack and Boyd Rankin.
And for all that India and Bangladesh will be expected to defeat Ireland, and comfortably too, both will have in the back of their minds the fear of becoming yet another famous scalp for the men in green.