It's been another good day for Ireland in the Abu Dhabi sunshine - they've finished day two 138 runs ahead of the UAE with 3 wickets still standing, having scored 366 for 7.

That was primarily due to a record 163 run partnership for the 7th wicket between skipper Trent Johnston, and wicket-keeper Niall O' Brien. The previous record of 150 had stood for 140 years - between W Hone and W Ashton against I Zingari!

The pair had come together with the contest evenly poised - Alex Cusack had just become the 4th lbw victim of the innings, on a pitch which although good to bat on, still had variable bounce at times.

The pair took the attack to the UAE, and dominated the bowling from the start of their stand. Johnston looked particularly aggressive, and this rubbed off on O'Brien, who overcame a nervous start to play shots all around the wicket.

He survived a confident caught behind appeal off Zahid Shah when he had made just two, but that was just one in a series of vehement appeals, as UAE histrionics continued throughout the days play.

There was a disappointing end to the day when Johnston edged behind to depart for 69 , which came off 95 balls and contained 10 boundaries.

He and O'Brien had totally dominated in the final session of play, adding 102 runs in just 17 overs - the pair's 163 came in just 35 overs of scintillating stroke play. 11 overs were lost  because of the appallingly slow over rate by UAE, which was more reminiscient of the West Indies sides of the 70's and 80's - just 37 overs were bowled in the first 3 hours of play, and it didn't improve any when the spinners were on.

The umpires were powerless to penalise them, and in the absence of a match referee, there seems little incentive for the UAE to speed things along.

Earlier Eoin Morgan (47), and Kevin O' Brien (33), had looked in good touch, but the day belonged to Northants player, Niall.

His 4th hundred for Ireland came off 195 balls and contained 14 boundaries - he was still there at the finish on 137, having being dropped by Shoaib Sarwar in the closing stages.

Much will depend on him if Ireland are to extend their lead to the 200 mark - his highest score for Ireland came against the UAE in 2005 - 176 - he will have his sights set on that, and possibly the highest individual score for Ireland - Eoin Morgan's 209* made just over a year ago on this very ground.

Day 2 Scorecard:

UAE Vs Ireland

2-Innings Match Played At Sheikh Zayed Abu Dhabi, 06-Mar-2008, First Class InterconCup

Round	653
Toss won by	UAE
Umpires	Shahul Hameed (Indonesia) & Zameer Haider (Pakistan)
Comment	653/6 4 day Match: Thursday 6, Friday 7, Saturday 8, Sunday 9 March 2008 Debut: PR Stirling Close Day 1: Ireland 46-1 (16 overs, Porterfield 16*, Morgan 21*) Day 2: Ireland 366-7, (100.2 overs, N O'Brien 133*)

 

UAE 1st Innings 228/10 All Out (Overs 72)

Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Min	Bls	4s	6s
HS Gayan S Silva	lbw	b D Langford-Smith	4	2	4	1	0
Amjad Ali+	c NJ O'Brien	b DT Johnston	12	40	30	3	0
Naeemuddin Aslam	lbw	b GJ Thompson	49	160	124	7	0
Rashid Khan	c KJ O'Brien	b D Langford-Smith	23	62	51	2	0
Saqib Ali*	c PR Stirling	b DT Johnston	7	34	22	1	0
N Fernandes	c KJ O'Brien	b WK McCallan	14	44	30	30	2
Sameer Zia		b AR Cusack	56	108	80	7	0
Ahmed Raza	c WTS Porterfield	b AC Botha	46	109	83	7	0
Shoaib Sarwar		b AR Cusack	0	9	7	0	0
Zahid Shah	run out PR Stirling		0	3	1	0	0
Fahad Alhashmi	not out		0	6	1	0	0
extras		(b5 lb4 w4 nb4)	17
TOTAL		10 wickets for	228

 

FOW

1-4(HS Gayan S Silva) 2-29(Amjad Ali) 3-70(Rashid Khan) 4-97(Saqib Ali)

5-111(Naeemuddin Aslam) 6-121(N Fernandes) 7-218(Sameer Zia) 8-218(Shoaib Sarwar)

9-218(Zahid Shah) 10-228(Ahmed Raza)

 

Bowler	O	M	R	W	wd	nb
D Langford-Smith	9	3	26	2	2	2
DT Johnston	15	4	40	2	1	-
KJ O'Brien	8	1	29	0	1	1
AR Cusack	7	4	13	2	-	-
GJ Thompson	13	2	62	1	-	-
AC Botha	12	5	32	1	-	1
WK McCallan	8	2	17	1	-	-

 

Ireland 1st Innings 366/7 (Overs 100.2)

Batsman	Fieldsman	Bowler	Runs	Min	Bls	4s	6s
WTS Porterfield	lbw	b Zahid Shah	25	109	62	1	1
PR Stirling		b Fahad Alhashmi	2	18	18	0	0
EJG Morgan	lbw	b Ahmed Raza	47	164	95	6	0
NJ O'Brien+	not out		137	369	237	20	0
KJ O'Brien	c Amjad Ali	b Ahmed Raza	33	66	58	4	0
AC Botha	lbw	b Saqib Ali	19	42	32	2	0
AR Cusack	lbw	b Zahid Shah	4	19	17	0	0
DT Johnston*	c Amjad Ali	b Saqib Ali	69	161	95	10	0
WK McCallan	dnb		-
GJ Thompson	dnb		-
D Langford-Smith	dnb		-
extras		(b5 lb6 w2 nb17)	30
TOTAL		7 wickets for	366

 

FOW

1-8(PR Stirling) 2-67(WTS Porterfield) 3-102(EJG Morgan) 4-166(KJ O'Brien)

5-197(AC Botha) 6-203(AR Cusack) 7-366(DT Johnston)

 

Bowler	O	M	R	W	wd	nb
Zahid Shah	23	2	116	2	-	12
Fahad Alhashmi	9	2	33	1	2	-
Shoaib Sarwar	11	2	41	0	-	1
Sameer Zia	16	1	63	0	-	-
Saqib Ali	17.2	2	55	2	-	-
Ahmed Raza	24	3	47	2	-	-