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Curtis Campher and George Dockrell shared one of the best partnerships in the history of T20 World Cup to help Ireland register a six-wicket win over Scotland at Bellerive Oval, Hobart. THe win has also made the Group B more interesting as two-time T20 World Champions West Indies are the only team without a win so far.
Run chase in disarray
Chasing a total of 177, Ireland lost their impact openers early in the innings. Skipper Andrew Balbirnie (14) lost his wicket to Brad Wheal whereas Safyaan Sharif dismissed the dangerous Paul Stirling (8). The run chase took a major hit when wicketkeeper-batter Lorcan Tucker (20) and big-hitter Harry Tector (14) lost their wickets before the halfway stage.
Partnership to remember
Campher had just faced two deliveries when Dockrell came in to bat and Ireland needed 116 runs to win from 63 deliveries. Campher and Dockrell took calculated risks so that the required run rate does not slip out of the grasp. Even Wheal went for plenty in his last over. Not just big-hitting, the duo used the big boundaries to their benefit and converted plenty of ones into twos.
In the 18th over, Campher got to his maiden T20I half-century from just 25 deliveries. He made the equation easy for the last two overs with a four off last ball of the over. Ireland needed 12 runs off the final two overs. Campher hit a hat-trick of boundaries to seal the win for Ireland in the penultimate over.
Campher and Dockrell shared a 119-run partnership for the fifth-wicket from just 57 deliveries. This is the joint-highest fifth-wicket partnership in a run chase in T20 World Cup history. Campher remained unbeaten for 72 off just 32 deliveries including seven fours and two sixes. On the other end, Dockrell played the perfect second fiddle with 39 runs from 27 balls including four fours and one six.
Slow start
Earlier, Scotland skipper Richie Berrington won the toss and opted to bat first. Mark Adair struck off the first ball he bowled to dismiss George Munsey. Opener Michael Jones and Matthew Cross were kept quite by Irish bowlers in the powerplay overs. In the ninth over, Cross was dismissed by Campher. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 28 runs from 21 deliveries.
Jones' dominance
After Cross' wicket, Jones took more attacking approach. In the 13th over, he got to his maiden T20I half-century from 38 deliveries. Berrington did damage from the other end as well but got out at the start of slog overs. Once again Campher broke the partnership. The skipper scored 37 runs from 27 deliveries including three fours and one six.
Jones played few big shots in the slog overs. He missed breaching the three figures as Joshua Little dismissed him in the penultimate over. The opener scored 86 runs from 55 deliveries. His knock was studded with six fours and four sixes. It is also the highest individual score by a batter from associate nation in T20 World Cup. Adair bowled a brilliant last over to restrict Scotland's score to 176/5. Off the last ball, Calum MacLeod got run out trying to sneak a single.
