Curtis Campher Shines As Ireland Defeat Scotland
Curtis Campher struck his maiden half-century after a fine show with the ball to defeat Ireland to a six-wicket win over Scotland and keep their T20 World Cup super 12 stage trusts alive here on Wednesday. Campher rescued Ireland from a spot of trouble while chasing a difficult 177-run target and brought his side back home with one over to spare in the first round group B match. The win infused a fresh lease of life to Ireland's T20 World Cup campaign, which had a stuttering beginning as they lost by 31 runs to Zimbabwe in the opener.
In a difficult situation at 61 for 4 in the tenth over, Campher (72 not out) held hands with George Dockrell (39 not out) as the pair shared 119 runs for the solid fifth-wicket stand to chase down the target comfortably.
Campher enriched his speedy fire 32-ball knock with seven fours and two sixes, while Dockrell hit four boundaries and one maximum.
Lorcan Tucker (20), skipper Andy Balbarinie (14) and Harry Tector (14) were the other striking scorers for Ireland.
Campher's exploits with the bat came after the all-rounder turned out to be the pick of bowlers for Ireland with figures of 2/9 from his two overs of right-arm medium fast bowling.
Earlier, Michael Jones likewise hit his maiden T20I fifty, a bursting 55-ball 86, to control Scotland to 176 for 5.
Skipper Richie Berrington (37), Matthew Cross (28) and Michael Leask (17 not out) additionally played valuable hands for the Scots.
Scotland didn't have the best of starts after selecting to bat, losing George Munsey ahead before Jones and Cross shared 59 runs for the second wicket to settle the innings.
After Cross' dismissal, Jones scored 77 runs with captain Berrington and a fast 33 runs off only 16 balls with Leask before perishing in the penultimate over.
Other than Campher, Mark Adair (1/23) and Josh Little (1/30) scalped a wicket each for the Irishmen.
Both Scotland, who stunned West Indies by 42 runs in their opener, and Ireland are on two points from as many games and in contention to qualify for the Super 12 stage of the showpiece.
Match Summary
Scotland 176/5 in 20 overs (Michael Jones 86, Richie Berrington 37; Curtis Campher 2/9) lost to Ireland 180/4 in 19 overs (Curtis Campher 72*, George Dockrell 39*; Brad Wheal 1/25) by 6 wickets.
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