Pakistan triumphed over Ireland, with a comfortable six-wicket win in their recent match, and went on to win the series 2-1. The game at Castle Avenue challenged the Irish team significantly, with a relatively low score to defend. Lorcain Tucker’s solid 73 and Andrew Balbirnie’s 35 could not stand up to the batting prowess of Babar Azam (75) and Mohammad Rizwan (56), who came to the fore again for Pakistan. Coming in at 18 not out, Azam Khan saw the visitors through to victory.
Despite Tucker’s second successive half-century, Ireland succumbed to defeat once more. This match also marked a distinct departure from the norm as Ireland had to adjust its team composition due to Paul Stirling being rested and Gareth Delany being injured. The team gave an opportunity to Ross Adair and Neil Rock, and for the first time ever, Tucker had the captain’s mantle.
However, the usual potency of Ireland’s batting force seemed to ebb away, and their bowling squad’s absence of a high-speed bowler like Josh Little or a dominating spinner was clearly felt. The team’s usual strategy of slow and steady batting in the middle overs before bringing in their power hitters backfired on this occasion. This was markedly seen in the last seven overs where they managed only 49 runs, dropping numerous wickets including Tucker, Dockrell, Rock, Campher and Mark Adair.
Shaheen Afridi starred with his bowling for Pakistan, skilfully alternating his pacing and length, and taking down Ross Adair, Rock and Mark Adair. His disciplined approach enabled him to maintain a sharp line, restricting Ireland to just 14 runs in his four overs.
Ireland suffered a series of unfortunate events during their match, particularly when Tucker, who maintained an impressive batting performance, was overlooked not only at seven and 45 runs, but also at 28 runs when Azam Khan missed a possible stumping opportunity. Tucker made the opposing team pay for their fielding mistakes by skilfully hitting his renowned ramp shot over the wicketkeeper and producing a multitude of square drives.
Despite their strong start of scoring 129 for two, Ireland struggled towards the end and could only manage to reach 178 runs in seven overs. This total seemed inadequate by 20 or even 30 runs as proven by Mohammad Rizwan’s assertive start at the batting crease. Dismissing the exit of Saim Ayub, his opening batsman partner, Rizwan produced an impressive seven boundaries during the powerplay, three of which were high over the leg side.
Ireland’s fielding issues were further highlighted when George Dockrell couldn’t hold onto a regular catch when Babar Azam was only at 19 runs. The Pakistan captain immediately exploited this, striking four maximums in a single over by Ben White. These went over the sight screen and into the clubhouse at square leg.
Ireland’s Mark Adair did manage to bowl Rizwan for 56 runs after he fumbled an attempted ramp. Meanwhile, Babar holed out off Craig Young. This was not without another botched catch attempt by Ireland’s Graham Hume. The team managed to claim another wicket when Iftikhar Ahmed was put out. However, Azam Khan triumphantly scored the victorious runs once more, crowning their second successive win and securing the series.