Ireland v United Arab Emirates, T20 World Cup Group Stage: Where to Watch Live, Preview and Team News

Ireland and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) go head-to-head in their second Group B clash in the ongoing T20 World Cup Group stage at the Sylhet Stadium on Wednesday.

Where to Watch Live

The match starts at 1:30pm GMT. Live coverage is on Sky Sports 2 – Red Button. Follow live text updates of the game on ESPNCricinfo.

Overview

Ireland come into this game having taken two points with a win against Zimbabwe in their first match of the campaign, successfully chasing the target of 164 runs.

The Irish bowlers could not enjoy a field time on the pitch with the African side putting in a strong batting display despite losing their first wicket with 14 runs on the board.

Brendan Taylor's side scored 163 runs at the loss of five wickets before running out of overs. George Dockrell and Andy McBrine added two wickets each to their names after Alex Cusack took the first wicket in the second over.

The Irish batsmen got off to a bright start with Captain William Porterfield (31) and Paul Stirling posting a partnership of 80 runs for the first wicket. Stirling then completed his half-century and scored 60 runs before joining his skipper in the pavilion.

Andrew Poynter (23) and Gary Wilson (0) were the next ones to follow suit from Tinashe Panyangara's delivery with 129 runs on the scoreboard.

Kevin O'Brien smashed two fours and one six, adding a total of 17 runs to the tally before being dismissed by Panyangara. With 162 runs on the board in the last over, Ed Joyce (22) failed to last till the end as the right-handed bowler struck once again.

Max Sorensen (0) too failed to secure the winning runs as he was run out by Sean Williams. But with two balls remaining Stuart Thompson (3) and Cusack (0) ensured their team do not suffer a defeat as they nicked the winning runs right at the end.

Meanwhile, UAE failed to stop Netherlands from chasing the target of 152 runs set by them in the opening innings. Despite starting the first over on a high with a four and a six, the opening pair of Amjad Ali (5) and Faizan Asif (6) traced their footsteps to the pavilion within the first 10 balls.

Swapnil Patil and skipper Khurram Khan joined the opener's one after the other in the 10<sup>th over having added 23 and 31 runs respectively to the tally. Shaiman Anwar (32) and Rohan Mustafa (20) took their team's total to 127 before the latter was run out by Peter Borren.

From that moment, it was all downhill for UAE as they lost the next five wickets with the remaining batsmen adding only 24 more runs to the total.

However, the Dutch had little problem chasing the set target and successfully achieved it with six wickets and seven balls remaining. Kamran Shazad took two wickets while Shadeep Silva took one, while Patil was responsible for dismissing half-centurion Stephan Myburgh (55) via a run-out.

Ireland are currently second in the Group B points table with 2 points, lagging behind leaders Netherlands on Net Run-Rate. A win against the UAE could keep them in the race to qualify for the Super-10 round in the T20 World Cup.

Team News

Ireland

Probable Lineup: William Porterfield (c), Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce, Andrew Poynter, Gary Wilson (wk), Kevin O'Brien, Stuart Thompson, Max Sorensen, Alex Cusack, George Dockrell, Andy McBrine

United Arab Emirates

Probable Lineup: Amjad Ali, Faizan Asif, Khurram Khan (c), Swapnil Patil (wk), Shaiman Anwar, Rohan Mustafa, Amjad Javed, Vikrant Shetty, Shadeep Silva, Kamran Shazad, Manjula Guruge