Ireland v Italy – T20 World Cup warm-up
Italy 118 (18.1 overs): A Mosca 35; M Humphreys 4-16, B McCarthy 2-14
Ireland 119-7 (19.3 overs): H Tector 41, L Tucker 34; G Stewart 3-21
Ireland won by three wickets
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Full scorecard (external)
Matthew Humphreys took four wickets for just 16 runs as Ireland defeated Italy in the first of three Twenty20 Internationals between the sides.
In the first time Italy’s men have played a full member in a T20 series, Ireland won the toss and elected to bowl in the United Arab Emirates.
Italy made a strong start with the bat and were 55-2 by the time captain JJ Smuts was dismissed.
Anthony Mosca was Italy’s top scorer with 35 but he was dismissed by Humphreys in the sixth over.
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The spin bowler also took the wickets of Grant Stewart, Marcus Campopiano and Jaspreet Singh – the latter two coming in the space of two balls – while Mark Adair claimed the final wicket of Crishan Kalugamage to leave Italy all out on 118 after 18.1 overs.
On the return, Ireland were composed with the bat to win by three wickets with three balls remaining.
Despite losing Paul Stirling to a second-ball duck and Ross Adair for 12, Harry Tector’s 41 and 34 from Lorcan Tucker put Ireland in a strong position.
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George Dockrell (nine), Gareth Delany (four) and Mark Adair (zero) fell late on but Ben Calitz and Barry McCarthy helped Ireland over the line.
The second of the three match series, which forms part of Ireland’s preparations for the T20 Cricket World Cup in February, takes place on Sunday.
Ireland will face co-hosts Sri Lanka in their World Cup opener on 8 February and will also face Australia, Oman and Zimbabwe in Group B.
