It may have taken a lot longer than anyone expected, but Ireland eventually recorded a 9 wicket win over the UAE to move into second place in the Intercontinental Cup table. They now have 49 points, 17 behind Kenya, with a game in hand.

The main reason why it took 77 minutes into the final session of play was undoubtedly a Herculean effort by UAE captain Saqib Ali. The powerful right hander batted for a marathon 456 minutes, facing 358 balls for his 195. He struck 26 fours and 4 sixes, as he withstood everything that the Irish threw at him.

He was given good support by Zahid Shah (28), as the pair added 159 in 64 overs for the 8th wicket. It was at times painful to watch, as Shah stonewalled for 166 deliveries, scoring just 4 from 69 balls in the morning session.

Pretty it certainly wasn't, but effective and frustrating for an Irish team being led by the first time by William Porterfield. He was deputising for the injured Trent Johnston, who suffered an elbow injury yesterday. The prognosis on Johnston is good in that he should be fine for the ODI series with Bangladesh in 9 days time.

Lunch came with the UAE 233 for 7, as only 47 runs came in the 31 overs possible. Saqib had reached his 100 from 144 balls, and dominated the strike, as Ireland struggled to get anything past him.

With the field widespread, Ireland were content to bide their time, and their patience was finally rewarded in the 52nd over of the day. Lisburn leg spinner Greg Thompson trapped Zahid lbw sweeping, and his obdurate vigil was at an end. Just like London buses, having waited nearly four hours for a first wicket, the next came instantaneously as Fahad Alhashmi was bowled round his legs by a delighted Thompson first ball.

The injured Nigel Fernandes (he had 3 stitches inserted the webbing of his hand after dropping Niall O'Brien yesterday) opted to bat to try and get Saqib a well deserved double hundred. The pair extended the UAE lead to 60 before Saqib on 195 cut at a wide ball from the parsimonious Alex Cusack (3-19 from 16.2 overs), and Eoin Morgan took a sharp chance at first slip. The final UAE total of 306 came in a gruelling 122.2 overs.

Kyle McCallan (3-104) bowled a truly marathon 42 over spell without much luck - his longest for Ireland and the first time he has conceded over 100 runs in an innings, while Greg Thompson (2-60) impressed at the end.

That meant Ireland needed 61 from a minimum of 33 overs - in the end they needed just 14.2, thanks to a well made unbeaten 40 from Porterfield from just 54 balls, including 5 boundaries. Paul Stirling (10), was the only casualty for the Irish, caught behind by Ali off Sameer. Eoin Morgan was the other unbeaten batsman on 4.

A hard fought 20 points for Ireland, who now play One Day friendlies this week against the UAE under lights on Wednesday, and a 40 over tie with Essex on Friday. The real test comes with their 3 games in Dhaka versus Bangladesh on March 18, 20 and 22.

Day 4 Final Scorecard

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

Ireland Win Outright by 9 wkts

Round 653
Toss won by UAE
Umpires Shahul Hameed (Indonesia) & Zameer Haider (Pakistan)
Player / Match UAE:Saqib Ali,
Comment 653/6
4 day Match: Thursday 6, Friday 7, Saturday 8, Sunday 9 March 2008
Debut: PR Stirling
Day 1: Ireland 46-1 (16 overs, Porterfield 16*, Morgan 21*)
Day 2: Ireland 366-7, (100.2 overs, N O'Brien 133*)
Day 3: UAE 186-7 (60 overs, Saqib Ali 98*, Zahid Shah 14*)
Points Awarded UAE 0, Ireland 20

 

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 49 175 124 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 49 26 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 474/10 All Out (Overs 134.3)

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+ c Amjad Ali b Sameer Zia 174 487 293 23 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 69 181 95 10 0
WK McCallan not out   52 143 107 6 0
GJ Thompson   b Sameer Zia 1 7 6 0 0
D Langford-Smith   c&b; Saqib Ali 15 38 37 2 0
extras   (b3 lb11 w2 nb17) 33        
TOTAL   10 wickets for 474        

 

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) 8-443(NJ O'Brien)
9-447(GJ Thompson) 10-474(D Langford-Smith)

 

Bowler O M R W wd nb
Zahid Shah 27 3 126 2 - 12
Fahad Alhashmi 13 3 40 1 2 -
Shoaib Sarwar 14 2 59 0 - 1
Sameer Zia 24 2 87 2 - -
Saqib Ali 26.3 3 84 3 - -
Ahmed Raza 30 5 64 2 - -

 

UAE 2nd Innings 306/10 All Out (Overs 122.2)

Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Min Bls 4s 6s
HS Gayan S Silva c KJ O'Brien b WK McCallan 16 101 68 3 0
Amjad Ali+ c AR Cusack b WK McCallan 23 49 45 2 0
Naeemuddin Aslam lbw b DT Johnston 0 12 9 0 0
Saqib Ali* c EJG Morgan b AR Cusack 195 456 358 26 4
Rashid Khan lbw b AR Cusack 17 43 36 1 1
Sameer Zia   b AR Cusack 0 2 3 0 0
Ahmed Raza c WK McCallan b AC Botha 1 19 13 0 0
Shoaib Sarwar   b WK McCallan 9 21 12 2 0
Zahid Shah lbw b GJ Thompson 28 288 166 4 1
Fahad Alhashmi   b GJ Thompson 0 2 1 0 0
N Fernandes not out   6 37 27 1 0
extras   (b4 lb0 w3 nb4) 11        
TOTAL   10 wickets for 306        

 

FOW
1-37(Amjad Ali) 2-38(Naeemuddin Aslam) 3-64(HS Gayan S Silva) 4-108(Rashid Khan)
5-108(Sameer Zia) 6-113(Ahmed Raza) 7-127(Shoaib Sarwar) 8-286(Zahid Shah)
9-286(Fahad Alhashmi) 10-306(Saqib Ali)

 

Bowler O M R W wd nb
D Langford-Smith 10 1 38 0 - 2
KJ O'Brien 15 5 40 0 - 2
WK McCallan 42 12 104 3 1 -
DT Johnston 3 1 5 1 1 -
GJ Thompson 21 4 60 2 - -
AR Cusack 16.2 7 19 3 1 -
AC Botha 13 8 24 1 - -
PR Stirling 2 0 12 0 - -

 

Ireland 2nd Innings 64/1 Closed (Overs 14.2)

Batsman Fieldsman Bowler Runs Min Bls 4s 6s
WTS Porterfield not out   40 77 54 5 0
PR Stirling c Amjad Ali b Sameer Zia 10 57 22 2 0
EJG Morgan not out   4 19 12 1 0
extras   (b5 lb0 w2 nb3) 10        
TOTAL   1 wickets for 64        

 

FOW
1-40(PR Stirling)

 Did not bat: NJ O'Brien+, KJ O'Brien, AC Botha, AR Cusack, DT Johnston*, WK McCallan, GJ Thompson, D Langford-Smith.

Bowler O M R W wd nb
Zahid Shah 5 0 20 0 1 1
Fahad Alhashmi 3 1 12 0 1 -
Shoaib Sarwar 4 1 17 0 - 1
Sameer Zia 2.2 0 10 1 - -