On Tuesday, Ireland qualified for this year’s T20 World Cup with a convincing 56-run win over hosts Oman in qualification, while the United Arab Emirates also qualified for Australia.
The Irish will be competing in the showpiece for the seventh time, having just missed the first edition in 2007.
Andy Balbirnie’s team got off to a rough start in the Global Qualifier A tournament, losing their opening game against the UAE last week, but recovered to reach the semi-finals with a string of victories.
After Oman won the toss and chose to field first, Tuesday’s last-four game was a winner-takes-all affair, and Ireland got off to a great start, establishing a difficult total of 165-7.
Balbirnie and Paul Stirling, who had previously made three consecutive fifty-plus partnerships, were knocked out early, leaving Ireland at 19-2.
But Gareth Delany hit 47 off 32 balls, while Andy McBrine’s 21-ball 36 provided late momentum.
Oman, who had qualified for the previous two T20 World Cups, struggled to get going with the bat and were bowled out for 105 by Irish spinners Simi Singh (3-20) and McBrine (2-24).
And that’s what you need to do in tournament cricket, “I believe our tenacity got us here today; we knew we needed to win three games at the start of the week, and we’ve gotten better with each match,” Ireland skipper Balbirnie said.
“Our T20 cricket has been erratic, and we knew we’d have to be at our best to win three matches in a row – we did, and it was perhaps our greatest all-round performance.”
The UAE overcame previously unbeaten Nepal by 68 runs in the other semi-final to qualify for the main competition for only the second time.
Vriitya Aravind, who struck 97 not out against Ireland and an undefeated 84 against Bahrain, hit a quickfire 46 and Muhammad Waseem made 70 for the UAE.
Nepal collapsed to 14-3 in response and were dismissed for 107 in 18.4 overs.
Ireland and the United Arab Emirates will compete in the main competition in Australia, which begins on October 16, with the 12 teams that advanced to the ‘Super 12″ stage of the 2021 T20 World Cup.
The Global Qualifier B tournament in Zimbabwe in July will determine the final two berths.
